Love Can Be Different
by NenaUchiha22
Summary: Because out of all her friends, Sakura knew Naruto was hurting just as much. Because in a way he was his soul mate, not in a romantic way, but Sasuke completed Naruto just as much as Naruto completed Sasuke. And Sakura knew Naruto understood her pain because he was feeling the same. (Accepting new love after your loved oned passed away, can be confusing and hard) - NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1: Late Spouse

Hello, I have had some time now. If you are a reader of my previous fics, I am updating them again this week. Life got crazy and busy, but now I finally have the time and focus. I love Naruto, after all. So this fics will always have a space in my heart. I usually write Sasusaku, side couple NaruHina... but weirdly I wanted to do something different this time, yet still a bit realistic with the same timeline that Naruto and Boruto follow.

Since this first chapter is a sad episode, I decided to post 2. I will update by next Monday. Hope you guys enjoy this, it is a tough read sometimes, but I promise it is worth it. I loved this fic and how it turns out. (I was inspired by a real life event, so it is about moving on and finding love, hence the title "Love is Different" because many times you find different types of love...)

Without further introductions, here it is. Enjoy!

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 1: Late Spouse

He was shaking, his knees trembled. He knew he had to get through this, it was only appropriate. But why did it seem like he was doing it for the rest but not for himself, this was not helping him grieve, putting a strong face in front of hundreds of people. Their sympathies didn't matter to him, their hugs, their gifts, their homemade food… nice gestures, sure, but not what he needed.

Regardless, that's where he stood. Surrounded by his sensei, his ex teammate, and the other nin's who had loved and met his wife. Hinata.

Hinata was gone.

Naruto frowned at the thought, he was left by himself. To be the pillar on which his son could lean on, and to raise his small Himawari. He was not ready, she didn't prepare him for this. Now who was going to greet him at the door when he arrived home after long hours of working as Hokage. She was not there anymore. She won't be there.

His wife had already been put in the ground, last ceremony finished. But everyone stood there still, because Naruto hadn't moved. Because he couldn't move. Everything felt too surreal for him, he was still waiting to hear Hinata's voice telling him it was time to go home.

"Dad" Boruto said, grabbing his arm. "It's time" he said. And Naruto moved to stare at him, there he was his brave son. Braver than he had ever been at his age. He was hurting, but he handled it with grace, as opposed to him. He wondered for a second if this was Hinata's side on him, after all, he knew Hinata was one of the emotionally strongest person he met.

Naruto nodded letting him being dragged away. Himawari walked beside him, many people approached the Hokage and offered his condolences, but after Kakashi indicated that nobody approached the blonde—something Naruto appreciated—he finally was able to reach home. Sakura, Tsunade and Iruka walked with him and his son and daughter to his house. Nobody saying a word, mainly because they didn't know what to say.

Iruka offered him his sincerest condolences and left after they reached Naruto's gate. Tsunade walked with Himawari to her room, they had become close when Hinata fell ill. Hinata spent a lot of her last months in the hospital, Himawari knowing the definitive outcome her mom would have spent a lot of time in the hospital, where Tsunade and she bonded. The blonde sat on Himawari's bed, the little one finally letting herself cry and Tsunade comforting the little one. Tsunade wouldn't leave until she knew Himawari was asleep.

Boruto walked straight to his room, no word came out of his mouth. Naruto thought of going after him, thought it was his duty to talk to his son. But he didn't have the strength, he was hurt in his own way, the reality hadn't hit him fully, he instead chose to walk to the kitchen where Sakura had walked straight to. He observed her as she rapidly got the kitchen clean and put everything the villagers and friends of the family had given them in the fridge, she made sure to leave notes on what could be eaten straight away, and what could be kept longer in the fridge as well as instructions to heat up whatever needed to be warmed before eating.

She felt his stare and stopped what she was doing. She looked at him, his eyes were not there, her heart ached looking at her best friend that way, without saying a word she grabbed his hand and pulled him closer. And she hugged him. And then, just then, Naruto let himself cry.

He put his whole weight on her and started to cry, she had enough strength to keep him standing, and so she did. She cried as well, no words said. She hated that her best friend was hurt… she had been there. And never in her wildest dream would she have thought of experiencing it on the other side. After a while she felt him sleep on her, with the strength driven by chakra that characterized her she picked him up and walked into his room, she made sure to leave him comfortable in his bed. She gave a quick check on Boruto, and she left. She would check on them tomorrow.

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 _Two years before_

"No! No! NO!" Sakura cried as she saw Sasuke's body brought back by her friend. Kakashi held her as she was plumbing to the ground, her legs were shaking she couldn't keep up, her hands covering her mouth not believing what she was seeing. Because that was Sasuke, Sasuke Uchiha. He couldn't be killed, he was of the strongest shinobis of Konoha, of the world, she survived a war and sealed Kayuga. He wasn't meant to die, because in her mind he couldn't.

But there he was, no chakra emanating from him. She knew he was gone, as a doctor she perfectly knew, and yet she denied the possibility repeating that it couldn't be. Kakashi started to break down, he couldn't hold her any longer and she got heavier as her knees no longer kept her standing.

Tsunade ordered some of her doctors under her command to take the body out of Naruto's arms. Absently he let go of his friend, he couldn't look at Sakura it was too painful. He did however walk to replace Kakashi to hold her up. Sakura grabbed his head.

"He said he would be back, this is a genjutsu. He can't be dead, Naruto. H-he can't" she cried. Naruto started to break down and cried while still looking at her.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan" he said. And then, just then Sakura realized that her husband was gone. As if the ultimate assurance of it ever happening was her best friend admitting it. And she screamed. Because what was left to do, the only man she ever loved was gone, the father of her only child.

The following days had been the toughest Sakura had to endure, after telling the news to Sarada, she received help to arrange the funeral from Tsunade and Shizune. She had been given absent days in the hospital but she wished Tsunade would let her run her Children's hospital as usual, even though she was no longer her boss she still respected her petition to not work right now. She however thought her mind running wild was the worst idea for her right now, she wished she was busy and not at home just thinking about her late husband. It was too painful and too real still.

She was visited constantly, everyday by a different person but still everyday by Naruto. Ino came and brought her flowers and food, Hinata came with her delicious homemade dishes not knowing what to say she would only smile and leave the food, Kakashi would come and offer to play chess with her and she deeply appreciated that distraction, and Naruto came and they would only sit down next to each other not saying anything. Because out of all her friends, Sakura knew Naruto was hurting just as much. Because in a way he was his soul mate, not in a romantic way, but Sasuke completed Naruto just as much as Naruto completed Sasuke.

As days became weeks, and weeks became months everything came back to normal, for everyone else at least. She resumed her work at the hospital and keeping herself busy kept her sane, her friends stopped dropping by as much, but Naruto kept visiting everyday after work. It became a habit and before they would sit down only, but later they would talk about Sasuke, and eventually instead of a sad memory it became a happy one… and Sakura looked forward to that moment of the day—just as Naruto—she loved keeping her husband alive even if it was just by sharing stories. And by talking to the blonde she learned so much about her husband, she learned how much they talked and how much Sasuke loved her and Sarada. And by sharing stories of her late husband, Naruto learned Sasuke's very soft side and even could be his corny side that he only showed Sakura. And by that day by day, they got better and days got brighter and they helped each other cope. Because when you are lost, you need help and when things get tough, you need a friend.

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Thank you for reading the first chapter, let me know what you think on the reviews.

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


	2. Chapter 2: A Little Help

Hi this second chapter I decided to upload it with the first because it wasn't very long, and also because it seemed like a rough way to start to only leave it at the moment of the wake.

I hope from the bottom of my heart that you enjoy this story, it is a rough side of life that is real but I tried to keep their personalities the same as canon.

Enjoy!

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 2: A Little Help

Sakura visited him again the next day, late in the afternoon at the end of her normal shift. Boruto was on their training ground being helped by Kakashi, training kept his mind from spiraling. Tsunade had taken care of Himawari, she loved that girl like her own now, and she would be there every step of the way to make sure she was taken care of. She opened the house to find it empty, but she felt Naruto's chakra wavering from his room.

She opened the door to find him almost exactly how she left him the day before, but he had his eyes open this time. Sakura assumed for sure he had been laying on bed the whole day.

"Good morning Naruto" she said, lying about the time as to not make him feel bad for being in bed for so long. Naruto nodded acknowledging her presence, he knew she was coming from the moment she came around the block. "Let's have some breakfast" she said as she walked to the bed and grabbed his arm.

"I'm not hungry Sakura-chan" he said.

"It's not up for debate, Naruto" she gently said and with a sigh he let himself being dragged out of bed. She grabbed something out of the fridge and started to heat it up, she gave a glass of juice to Naruto that he reluctantly took.

"Sakura-chan" Sakura looked up from the oven. "Boruto and Himawari… they haven't eaten, have they?" he asked just realizing that Hinata was always the one in charge of feeding them.

"Kakashi has been with Boruto since the morning, so he made sure to eat. Himawari has been with Tsunade, so for sure she's taken care of" she smiled. Naruto nodded, realizing his inability to be a good father, feeling this Sakura added. "Naruto, its okay. Don't worry about it just now, it's the first day" she said.

Naruto nodded and welcomed the dish that Sakura had just set in front of him. He finished his plate surprising himself, he hadn't eaten in more than 24hrs he realized.

"Sakura-chan" he said. Sakura was sitting in front of him writing on her journal all the groceries that she would have to get so they would have their fridge complete.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"When did it stop hurting?" he asked, genuinely wondering. Sakura gave him a sad smile and reached out to grab his hand.

"Honestly… it doesn't go away like that. I miss him every day, but it stopped hurting to remember him after a few months and with a lot of help" Naruto sighed and she continued "But everybody has a different process, you must find what works for you. Whatever makes it less hard, you must do it, reach the small little joy that life brings you and hold on to that, so you don't sulk"

She brought her hand back to her side and got up to get some chocolate that she saw Ino gifted the Uzumaki's, she gave Naruto one piece. She knew it was his favorite, and so did Ino. Naruto had a lot of real friends, she thought. After all, he was the most genuine and good person she knew.

"Sakura-chan" he said again. Sakura came back to him and handed him a piece of chocolate, he accepted it. "What helped you?" he asked.

Sakura smiled and received half a piece that Naruto gave back to her. She looked at the window as she answered, trying in a way to remember how it all went down.

"I guess… you helped me" she said, Naruto looked at her. "Kakashi, Ino, Hinata they all helped me in a way, so did Tsunade, Shizune, and in some ways Lee and Shikamaru" she said. "Kakashi distracted me, so did Ino, and Hinata kept me not worrying about Sarada and food. Tsunade and Shizune helped me to not worry about work. Shikamaru and Lee would pay me visits as well to check on me which I appreciated… but you, you helped me talk about him again" she said. "In a way that helped me the most. I didn't' want to forget him, and it was tough to talk about it. But with you it was easy, and eventually it was natural to just mention Sasuke in a past tense without hurting" she finished.

Naruto swallowed and wondered when would this pain that he was feeling right now would start to become less. He still expected Hinata to talk somewhere in the house, but his expectation was never met, and he felt that he would always expect to hear her voice and yet he would never do it again. That realization hurt, because he didn't want to move on, he wanted Hinata back.

Sakura saw him beginning to sulk again.

"You have to find what makes the pain less harsh, but that will take you some days. What do you want to do right now?" she asked. Naruto looked up and stared at her eyes.

"I want to see my kids" he said. He hadn't spent time with them, and he needed to see them, and they needed to talk it over. His mom was gone, and he needed to step up. And then, just then… he felt a tiny bit of a hint of what maybe could make the pain less painful. Taking care of people, as he has always done as Hokage could make it more bearable.

Sakura smiled and walked away with a list, he let Tsunade know Naruto wanted to be alone with her kids and Kakashi too. And so, they left. And the Uzumaki's talked like they never did before, and they cried, and they ate comfort food that Teuchi Ichiraku had left the day before. And they watched a movie, and they slept on the couch together and maybe just maybe if they had each other they wouldn't be so lost.

"I am glad Himawari has you" Sakura confessed to Tsunade. The three nin's had stopped to eat something before heading to their respective homes.

Tsunade grabbed a glass of Sake and smiled. "She is too precious for me. She's very strong too, she said to me once that she wanted to become a medic, so I'll be close to her for some time" she put the glass down. "I just hate that I got close to her because Hinata got sick"

Sakura sighed and nodded, she remembers how it went. She was the one who diagnosed Hinata after seeing her once, she looked too pale for her taste and after she reluctantly accepted to be checked at the hospital, they found… a genetic disease had made an appearance and made her blood vessels weak. And it got bad quick, Sakura knew it was little to be done but they still tried with all her heart.

Kakashi came back with the food.

"How are things with Boruto?" Sakura asked.

"Well… I am helping him any way I can, but right now all she wanted to do is train. He is not much of a talker when it comes to feelings, and I can't say much either. If training is what he wants to focus on, I will be there" Sakura thanked that. After Sasuke passed away, Boruto was left without a mentor. A role that Kakashi took almost immediately, since Boruto was reluctant to learn jutsus from his father. Since Kakashi and Sasuke had the same lighting style, Boruto appreciated the help and learned a lot from him, everything that Sasuke couldn't because he left too soon. "Naruto how is he coping?" the nin asked.

Sakura looked at them and after looking at her glass and taking a zip.

"I honestly don't know." She said "But I will be there, like he was there for me" she smiled.

And that's what they did. In different ways, they helped the Uzumaki's because they were family, because the family was not limited to their last names, since they became Chunin their lives were intertwined, and they had loved each other's kids like their own. And they would be there for them all, to help them cope. They would be there..

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Please leave me a review! They make me wanna continue and they are honestly the best motivation I could possibly get!

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


	3. Chapter 3: The Canvas

Like I promised, I am here uploading the third chapter. Longer than the first two.

I hope you enjoy, I hope I make it and finish this in 8 episodes, that is how I am planning it so far. Whatever question you have, I can answer through Private Message, just sent me an e-mail.

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 3: The Canvas

Two months had gone by, Sakura thought as she looked through the window from her office at the top of the Children's hospital. And yet… not much had changed. She still visited the Uzumaki household after work to check on the family, Tsunade took charge of Himawari in a sense by making sure she was ready for school again, the sannin would make sure she had clean wardrobe, lunch ready and that her homework was up to date. Himawari insisted on going back to school straight away, Tsunade asked her to wait a bit, so after two weeks the sannin consented on the little one returning to the academy. Boruto took longer, three weeks exactly, he trained with Kakashi in the morning but didn't resume his missions with Team 7 and Konohamaru after week number three. He had refused to see his teammates until then. But the one that took longer to retake his normal life was Naruto. Sakura still had to drag him to eat from time to time, it wasn't a linear process, one day he would be up and ready and giving breakfast to his children, the other he wouldn't be up until 18:30 and this was because Sakura forced him to get out of bed when she visited after her shift at the hospital. And it was until month #2 that he finally resumed his activities as Hokage.

Before that, the activities of Hokage had fallen on Shikamaru, he had kept his activities on check and made all the decisions on Naruto's behalf. Sakura, Tsunade and Kakashi, who would have had to oversee the Hokage's activities due to Naruto's absence, didn't even bother helping, knowing the duties of the Hokage would be well handled under Shikamaru's criteria. He was after all, the second in command.

Sakura sighed and walked outside her office to do one final round on the third floor, she had been told by a nurse she was needed there to supervise some experimental surgery.

The pink haired one walked back to her office, happy to be done with her shift. Normally she wouldn't mind her work, as a matter of fact she enjoyed it but those last couple of months had been very emotionally tough and she welcomed the end of the shift more and more now. As her hand touched the door handle, she noticed something that she should've felt before, she guessed her ninja's senses had gotten dull after so much time in the hospital. She would have normally sensed such a big amount of chakra from a mile away. She opened the door that led to her office.

"I see you're hiding from your responsibilities" Sakura said as she entered her office. And there he was, her blonde friend sitting on the couch she had inside her office. The blonde one nodded. "Too much work?" she asked.

"Not really" he said. "Shikamaru didn't leave many things undone while I was off duty, so I only had to sign here and there"

"I see" Sakura said. She put some papers and scrolls she was holding on the desk and turned to see her friend.

"I had a meeting with a representative of the Sound village" he said.

"And you didn't go?" she asked. He gestured a 'no' with her head.

"I thought I was ready, but I'm not"

Sakura smiled at him, a sad smile. She hadn't been able to smile fully to her friend. Seeing him hurt, made her heart ache. She then grabbed a drink from a mini fridge she had inside one of her brown cabinets and handed it to him.

"You have a nice office" he said.

"I do" she answered. "I recently renovated it"

"It was in another building, right?" he asked taking a sip of his drink. Sakura nodded in response. "It looks nice"

"Thank you" she said. "It was in the general Hospital, but since I now work more in the Children's hospital I decided to move permanently here"

Naruto half smiled at that. The blonde didn't need to talk much, and Sakura knew it, so they stayed like that for a few minutes, not talking. Sakura was used to sitting in silence with Naruto after Sasuke passed away, that was sort of their activity. It was recomforting because they were not by themselves and it was relaxing since they didn't have to fill the empty word space. Naruto looked at the ceiling for a moment, his hands playing with the drink Sakura had given him.

"I didn't want to see new people" he said. Sakura looked at him, her eyes previously on the window. Naruto elaborated. "The representatives of the Sound village" he elaborated more. "I already saw all of my village, they've all paid their respects. I don't want to see new people reminding me that my wife is dead" he said.

Sakura took a deep breath, as if she had been holding her breath for a few minutes.

"So… that's why you're here. Because you don't want strangers giving you their condolences" she said.

Naruto nodded.

"It feels in a way that I'm disrespecting her, Sakura-chan" he said.

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"It's just… Why do I want people to stop bringing Hinata up?" he said. "I should want to hear more about her. Instead it's like I rather deny her existence"

Sakura moved to sit closer to him and grabbed his hand. Now she sat the same way that he was sitting like, their back on the couch and their head looking at the ceiling. Naruto welcomed her hand without moving his eyes from the ceiling.

"It's just hard to hear about her now" she started. "It's less painful to not think about her, so it's normal that you don't want to hear about her right now, especially by people who didn't even know her" she gave a quick squeeze to his hand.

Naruto sighed and turned to see Sakura.

"Sakura-chan" the kunoichi looked back at his blue orbs. "Was it painful to hear about Sasuke?" he asked.

Sakura gave a small chuckle, something that Naruto found strange for a second.

"Was it?" she asked taking her hand from his hand and placing it on her lap. "I wanted to break down every time people would say things about him, I didn't even want to hear how good of a shinobi he was. Something that I always loved hearing when he was alive. I didn't even want to remember the sweet things he said to me, or all the moments he and I shared when married. It was too painful" she said. She sighed. "Naruto, it is going to be painful. But not for a second think that not wanting to hear about her is a bad thing. It is just normal" she said.

Naruto sighed. He reached for Sakura's hand.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan" he said. In a quick motion he got up and with a small wave of his hand he bid adieu and in a second, he was gone.

Sakura sighed, once again, remembering Sasuke was now 'easy' in a way. She enjoyed talking about him and could do it now without problems, in past tense. But she missed him still, from time to time she would think about him a lot, but it was different than before, she was no longer waiting to hear his voice saying, "I'm home", and she didn't expect him to walk through the door as if he had been gone in a long mission. She no longer ached as before, but she would never stop missing him. Nevertheless, now she could miss him without hurting, and she was okay with that.

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Naruto visited once again Sakura's office, and one more time the following day. And then it became normal to visit every day. Sometimes only once a day, other times three to four times a day, it was his escape place. Sakura gave him a key after a week of him entering her office.

"Sakura-chan, we know I don't need it" he said.

"I know. But it is embarrassing for the Hokage to enter through the window." She said and he reluctantly took the keys from her hand.

The visits became such a routine that Sakura looked forward to them. Her visit to the Uzumaki's household the first two months had evolved and now the way to reach Naruto was through her office room. Sometimes the visits would be short, other times they would talk non-stop until it became late at night. Other days, he would joke around and he'd seem like the Naruto that existed when Hinata was alive, a few times he would ask solely about Sasuke, but most times they would sit next to each other holding hands and looking at the ceiling not talking. And whatever mood Naruto was in, whatever thing he needed on each of those days, Sakura would deliver. Because she loved him, and because even though she felt helpless most of the time, those few visits she could feel for a second that she could help him.

"How is Boruto and Himawari?" she asked one of those times when they just sat on her couch. Naruto sighed before continuing.

"They are okay, as good as they can be right now" he answered. "Boruto is not fighting me anymore" he confessed and the kunoichi could feel a little frown forming on her blonde friend.

"I thought that would be a good thing. Didn't you want him to not be gutsy all the time?" she asked genuinely wondering why he was frowning.

"It's just…" he started, his frown grew deeper. "I want him to be the old Boruto. I want him to prank me and be mad at me. But now, he's acting all grown up. And I don't want that" he said. Sakura understood what he meant.

She could relate after all, in a different way but she could relate. Sarada had never given her any trouble, she was a quiet kid by all accounts, but she had a feisty personality and was cheerful even when she acted serious. After Sasuke passed, she became a silent child, never making any noise and complying for everything. It broke her heart that she had lost that light her eyes would usually have.

"Give him time" Sakura said. "It takes time to heal and to go back to old ways" she said. "It won't be a hundred percent like it used to be, but he will recover his playfulness"

"I don't know, Sakura-chan" Naruto said. "I'm scared they will become sad kids."

Sakura looked at her friend, his Hokage outfit wrinkled against the sofa.

"They have you, Naruto. They won't" Sakura could tell her friend appreciated those words but didn't fully believe it.

After a few minutes of silence, Sakura spoke something she had been thinking about for a few weeks now.

"You know… I think we spend a lot of time looking at the ceiling" she said, Naruto chuckled and nodded in agreement. "So… if you're up for it, I thought we could maybe decorate the ceiling" she said.

Naruto looked at his friend with a quizzical look. Sakura smiled and got off the couch to grab something under her desk.

"I mean…" she walked towards Naruto, he had already sat up paying the pink-haired full attention. "This"

The kunoichi brought with her a box with cans of paint, brushes, colored pencils, pens, pictures of their friends and family and more utensils. Naruto looked through the box and looked up at her friend.

"I don't get it" he said, and Sakura laughed.

"I thought it would be fun to make the ceiling more interesting to look at" she finished. "We can paint something, put some pictures on the ceiling. I mean it won't be that hard we can use chakra control on our feet to paint… though that could make us dizzy, but I have a ladder on the closet" she looked at her friend curious about his response.

Naruto looked through the things she had brought, there was one small box filled with pictures, of Team 7, of the Uchiha family, of Sakura and Sasuke, of Sasuke, of the Uzumaki's and a picture of Hinata. Naruto picked up the lone picture of his late wife and held it closer to look at her better. For a second Sakura thought that maybe she was overstepping a boundary, and maybe she should've stick to paint and brushes… perhaps pictures were too hard to look at right now.

Naruto stood up, the picture still in hand, he switched his eyes to Sakura. He saw how uneasy she was, and Naruto smiled. He walked towards his friend, and with one arm he pulled her closer. "Thank you, Sakura-chan. I love the idea"

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It had been four weeks since they started trying to create something on the wall, three months of Hinata's passing. Sometimes they would work on it, other days they would have their normal conversations. One day they decided to paint everything blue, and they did. Only after three days of blue, they founded too boring and they painted it back to white. They thought of painting it mural style, but then they didn't have a theme for it, they brainstormed and started a work, and then they changed their mind the following day. Despite their lack of accomplishment after a month of starting to paint the ceiling, they enjoyed the process. Sakura started to think they maybe would never have a final piece of art, but she was okay with that.

The task distracted them and made them forget about the pain they were feeling. It was freeing and almost therapeutic to have a canvas where to put ideas, even when those ideas changed from day to day and they never fully materialized into a final work.

After the second month of trying, five months after Hinata's passing. Naruto spoke "You know Sakura-chan?" he called for her from the ladder. Sakura was on the floor trying to think on what to paint herself. Both were wearing old clothes for the task at hand, Naruto already had a drawer for himself in Sakura's office with clothes to change in when they felt like painting.

"Yes?" she asked looking up with a can of pink paint on her arms.

"Maybe we should get a professional" he said.

"Like a professional artist?" she asked.

"Yeah, how much do you think Sai will charge us?" Naruto asked. And Sakura couldn't not laugh at his idea, Naruto cracked up as well. For some reason the idea of Sai painting something for them, and then the painting becoming a real creature out of canvas was too funny to digest, he almost lost his balance and quickly Sakura held the latter for him. "Yeah, maybe no" he said.

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Sakura arrived early one Monday, she had a mug of coffee in her hands. She reminded herself of the schedule for the day, she had a meeting with the head department of Vaccines, she was soon to launch a full research on a vaccine that was predicted will be needed for the next flu season. They would normally do it when the virus was found, but Sakura and Tsunade proved more effective the preventing measure. She walked into the hospital and entered the elevator that led her to the last floor.

The smell of fresh paint surprised her as she opened the door. To her surprise she found Naruto sleeping on the couch, she reprimanded herself for not sensing him earlier. It was too early, she thought justifying herself. He had fallen asleep on the couch, she imagined he probably visited her office during the weekend, then she went back to what her senses identified first… paint. The smell of paint was everywhere, and inevitably she looked up and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Without trying to wake Naruto up, she laid on the couch in front of the one her friend was sleeping in. And took it all in.

Naruto had painted the sky, light blue, with the sun on one side, and the light blue became darker and darker until it became night and the moon was on the opposite end. Inside of the background that was the day and the night skies, there was Kurama. It didn't look evil, it looked protective, covering with his body Was Boruto and Himawari, Kurama was a painting of course, but Himawari and Boruto were a picture. It blended well with the background, Sakura guessed he got the pictures amplified so they didn't get lost in the ceiling. Next to Kurama it was a big Susanoo, Sakura identified the purple colors, it was a very accurate representation of Sasuke's Susanoo. Inside the Susanoo, there was Sarada. In the middle of both creatures, on the side of Susanoo it was a picture of Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura had to look for a long time at that picture, she didn't remember it. And then it hit her, it was at her wedding—if her wedding could be called wedding—Sakura and Sasuke wanted a small ceremony, they only invited her parents, Yamato sensei, Hinata, Naruto, Kakashi, Shizune, Ino and Tsunade, it felt more private and that's what they had agreed on. In the picture Sakura is wearing her wedding dress, a simple lace white dress that she adored and Sasuke a traditional outfit, they were smiling at each other when Naruto took the picture. She wondered why he never shared that picture with her… Sakura stared at her late husband for a few minutes, he looked happy.

"You were happy, weren't you Sasuke-kun?" she asked out loud as if out of nowhere her late husband would answer back.

Next to the Uchiha's was Hinata and Naruto. Sakura remembers when she took that picture, it was when Naruto was on his way to ask for Hinata's hand. She took that picture while joking "It could be the last picture I have of you two together, who knows what the leader of the Hyuuga would do to you? I may never see you alive" funnily Naruto half believed that. In the picture, you can see Hinata blushing and Naruto next to her with a nervous look in his face. Sakura wondered for a second why he chose that picture of them, but then she assumed that it was maybe how he remembered Hinata, constantly blushing. She looked beautiful with her cheeks red, after all.

In the middle of both couples, surprisingly there was a picture of Team 7 with Kakashi. The classical picture that Kakashi forced them to take, she treasured that picture with her heart. Naruto made all the pictures look more or less the same size, she wondered how long it took him to make the scale right. A tear started to fall from her cheek, this was better than anything she had envisioned.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a sleepish sound. "What time is it?" he asked getting up off the couch and stretching his back in the process.

"Naruto this is beautiful" she said not breaking sight of the painting. Naruto looked up and smiled.

"I felt anxious on Sunday and I just felt like inspiration hit me right there and then, and that I had to do it" he said. "Sorry for entering to your office without you here, Sakura-chan" he apologized scratching the back of his neck, suddenly reminding himself that he broke into the hospital on a Sunday.

Sakura chuckled a bit. "You are forgiven if it was for this" she said wiping the tear away from her face. She sat up and slowly got up, not trying to break contact from the painting.

"Are you going to work? Didn't you stay up all night?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "I am going to take a shower at home and change."

"I see" she answered. "It is 6AM, by the way" she said answering the first question the blonde had asked her.

"I have time" he said.

He turned to leave after giving her a big smile.

"I have a meeting with the Sound" he said.

"Good luck!" she said. He smiled at her and before leaving he gave her a quick hug.

She looked at her blonde friend go, and then laid on the couch once more to look at his art. A thought crossed her mind, and she smiled… he would finally have that meeting with the Sound, where he was sure Hinata would be brought up. But he looked different, he looked ready, more at peace. And for a second, she thought she could see her friend have some progress.

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I loved that some of you are giving me this opportunity to share this with you, and the ones who are liking it I hope you enjoy the next episodes. I think Naruto and Sakura's friendship is really underrated in Naruto but is one of the deepest friendships there. I wish Kishi would put more of them in Naruto. Anyway... it will become a NaruSaku eventually, and I am enjoying writing about it so so much because it is based on a personal and real story.

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


	4. Chapter 4: Anniversary

I took longer than expected! My apologies for that, but after a lot of writing, deleting, writing, polishing, deleting and writing again I completed chapter 4! I hope you enjoy reading at least half of how much I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you again for those who wrote reviews, faved the story or is following it!

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 4: Anniversary

The sound of Kunai clashing together was the only noise in the area, the chipping of birds was long gone, the serenity long replaced by the weapons colliding against each other. The Hokage watched the last forty minutes of the training from the height of a tall tree where he could appreciate his son fighting his longtime friend Konohamaru. He looked proudly at how Konohamaru has having trouble keeping up with Boruto and admired the speed at which Boruto would respond. One second, he was in front of Konohamaru, the next millisecond he would be behind him, the sensei barely had time to react. Naruto smiled at this and noted that it was probably the Namikaze legacy on the blond kid that allowed him to have that speed. After what seemed like 30 minutes of taijustsu, followed by 10 minutes of kunai and shuriken throwing, the sensei of Konohamaru brought the training to an end.

Boruto nodded to his sensei and started to walk away from him and towards the tree.

"Hey old man, didn't you know its illegal to watch young kids?" he asked his dad with a playful and mocking tone. Naruto laughed, gladly noting how Boruto was coming back to his old ways.

"Who are you calling old man?!" he asked while jumping down the tree and landing a kick to Boruto's head that was skillfully stopped by the young man.

"Hokage-sama" the pair stopped their fight to look at Konohamaru. "Glad you can join us again" the brown-haired man said.

"Hey Konohamaru, don't be so formal" the blond man smiled. "I am picking up Boruto to go to lunch, want to join us?" he asked.

Konohamaru looked at him for a moment but denied the offer. "I better get home soon but thank you for the offer Hokage-sa… Hokage-san" he tried to fix the formality of the name, making Boruto laugh.

"He is an old man, sensei. You can call him whatever you like!" Boruto said causing Naruto to hit him in the head. Konohamaru smiled awkwardly before leaving them arguing by themselves.

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"And she said that I may start officially training with her next month" Himawari finished her story while slurping her ramen.

The Uzumakis were in Ichiraku's, Naruto's treat. Himawari was at Naruto's left and Boruto at his right, the little one was sharing her day with the men of her life. The look on her face made it evident of how excited she was, the duo had picked the youngest up from the Academy.

"I thought you were already training with her" Naruto said.

"No, no" she denied with her head. "Tsunade-sama has taught me things, but I need to graduate so she can take me officially as her apprentice" she said smiling.

Naruto noticed how Himawari's eyes lit up at the prospect of being Tsunade's apprentice.

"I see" he said. "That's good. I'm sure you will be a good apprentice"

Himawari smiled at her dad.

"I hope" she stopped when she was about to bring the chopsticks to her mouth. "Tsunade-sama told me I have a very good chakra control" she brought the chopsticks finally to her mouth.

Boruto chuckled. "Yeah, you could touch chakra points since you were six" he said, and Naruto laughed nodding.

Himawari smiled. "Yeah, she said I could maybe come close to her best apprentice" she said. Naruto looked at her asking to elaborate. "Sakura-san has surpassed Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sama also said Shizune-san was her apprentice but she never could master everything Tsunade has. Sakura-san did and in a short time of period, so Tsunade-sama said she has been surpassed by Sakura-san" Himawari explained cheerfully. "So, if I can come close to Sakura-san, then maybe I can be as strong and as good of a doctor as Tsunade-sama" she said.

"Hey, you think of you so highly huh!" Boruto said throwing a napkin in a ball to Himawari that Naruto quickly caught.

"True" she said smiling shyly. "I'm getting ahead of myself" Himawari admitted. "I am just so excited" she admitted, and her brother smiled.

Naruto looked at his kids, a mixture of nostalgy in his eyes, since Hinata passed away he had spent more time with his kids. He had spent more times with them the moment she got sick. A fact that he reprimanded himself for, he should've spent more time with his family without a tragedy causing it. Nonetheless, he tried to force that sour thought out of his mind. He made a regular outing of going to eat at Ichiraku's with his kids every Friday, sometimes Boruto couldn't join because he had missions, once Himawari skipped it because she had a road trip with the Academy, but Naruto never missed it. He promised himself he wouldn't.

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On the way back home, they crossed the market to take a more entertaining way home, Boruto meanwhile talked about what he thought about the rest of the teams of his generation.

"But you know what is weird" he said, both hands behind his neck. "The Ino-Shika-Cho team"

Naruto laughed at this and Himawari walked next to her brother staring at him in confusion.

"Yeah!" he took Naruto's laugh as a sign that he agreed with his statement. "They are insane! They are a team that has been a team formed by the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi for generations!" he said. "What would have happened if one of them wouldn't have had a kid? The formation is over!" he explained.

Naruto kept laughing, in a way finding his kid's reasoning amusing.

"Sakura-san!" Himawari said excitedly, walking ahead.

Naruto looked up and saw Sakura, the kunoichi greeted the family and stood in front of them.

"Himawari-chan" she acknowledged the little one. "Boruto" she smiled and then brought her eyes up to meet her longtime friend and both smiled at each other.

"Sakura-san!" Himawari repeated and Sakura took her eyes off the Hokage for a second. "I have something to tell you!"

Sakura laughed for a second. "I think I know what it is" she smiled. And Himawari stared at her. "You could become the third apprentice of Tsunade-sama or so I've heard" she grinned at her and Himawari smiled.

"Yes!" she answered excitedly. Sakura smiled at her excitement. The kunoichi was sure Himawari would learn fast under the tutelage of Tsunade, the fact is she had outstanding chakra control even higher than an average Hyuuga, which would put her ahead of the rest students to become doctors. She also had a good chakra reserve heritage of her father; those two things together just make an excellent formula for a good doctor. And that is without adding the motivation and hard work that Himawari would bring to the table. She had already started to learn some basic jutsus with Tsunade but excelled at that and never once gave up, Tsunade had to stop Himawari a few times because she seemed determined to master it all and didn't seem to mind self-exhaustion. Sakura guessed determination came from Hinata, but the stubbornness was all Naruto.

"If you need any help, you know you can come to me, right?" Sakura said. Himawari's eyes opened widely and she smiled, as if the offer was something, she wanted but didn't know she would get it. Himawari nodded enthusiastically. "You're heading home?" Sakura asked looking at Naruto, Naruto on the other hand, during the whole conversation did not look away from Sakura, something Boruto noticed but decided to not dwell over.

"Uh… yes" Naruto answered scratching his neck. "We came back from Ichiraku's just now" he said. "Did you just get off the hospital?" he asked wondering why so late this time, by now Naruto knew Sakura's schedule perfectly. The reason? He paid visits constantly to her office, sometimes he would just stay in her office even when she was busy treating patients. But most times, he would arrive after he was done with his work and hang with her as she wrapped up her daily paper work, the latest she had left the office was 19:00. Yet it was past that hour, and Naruto started to wonder if maybe something was wrong.

"Oh no… I got off early and wanted to spend it with Sarada" she said, and Naruto could sense a sadness in her voice. "As you remember she has a mission tomorrow and since she won't spend _tomorrow_ with me…" she said and stopped herself. "Well… what am I doing?" she asked looking up at the Hokage "You sign the missions, you know!" Sakura said looking at Naruto and changing the subject. "Anyway… so we went to eat, and she just left"

"Oh yeah, she has that mission with the other sensor types…" Boruto mentioned. "But it's a simple mission she won't be far for long" he said looking at Sakura. He couldn't understand why she wanted to spend time with her daughter before she left, as if the mission Sarada was going to was dangerous, which it wasn't it was a simple reconciliation mission.

"Yeah, I know" Sakura smiled. "Anyway… I hope you have a good night, I'll see you later!" she bid farewell and grabbed the bag she was carrying it tighter. Naruto noticed it was a paper bag with fish and vegetables in it. Before he could say goodbye to Sakura, she was out of sight. Himawari kept walking and Boruto waited for his dad to catch up… but he kept staring at the path that Sakura had taken and Boruto grew suspicious. Then again pushing that thought out of his mind, he grabbed Naruto by the arm and woke him up from his sleep.

"Let's go old man!"

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For some reason Naruto couldn't sleep. Sleep hadn't been a problem for a while now, he assumed that is how things would happen, back to normal… but not really. He welcomed sleep, but this time he was awake for another reason than the usual. The reason being… the weird exchange he had with Sakura at the market. Maybe weird wouldn't be the best way to describe it, as a matter of fact, Boruto and Himawari didn't notice anything weird. But he did. Because he knew Sakura, and he felt that she was off, could she maybe had fought with Sarada?

No, they never fight. And whenever they do, Sakura is more angry than sad. He tried thinking of hints. For any other person, they could have assumed the kunoichi had an off day, but Naruto couldn't assume just like that, because he knew Sakura since they were kids. He could tell her humor by the book, even when she tried to pretend. He rolled around the bed and saw his clock marking 3AM. He sighed. Then a flash of that day was brought to his mind, she was carrying food… but one food in particular; tomatoes.

Naruto stood up and walked towards his desk, he sat down and pulled out a calendar. And he understood.

Tomorrow… today technically, would be the anniversary of Sasuke's passing. Three years now.

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The smell of cooked rice covered the whole house, the sound of the knife hitting the wooden board where she was cutting the lettuce was the only noise coming from the kitchen. She diligently cut the tomatoes, she made a mental note that maybe she was overdoing the amount of food she was making, after all, Sarada was out but the thought left her mind as fast as it came. It was the one day she would allow herself to do things that solely made her happy, remembering him was one and cooking his favorite dish even if it was illogical for everybody else was the second one. She smiled as she poured the tomatoes on top of the cooked rice, she nodded with content at the finished product. A sound reminded her she had left some bread in the oven, she turned around and bent to get it. The smell of baked bread filled the house and replaced the previous odor. This smell was better, she admitted. She looked at the clock and noted that it was 13:00, she chuckled at how much time she had spent in the kitchen. She had started the whole process at 9:00, but she didn't mind the time spent. It was a special occasion and cooking, even though she never was a fast cook was one of the most fun activities she liked doing. It was a luxury that she barely got to do since she worked at the hospital long hours, but today was an exception.

She heard a knock at the door, and for a second the thought of Sarada coming back to spend today with her crossed her mind, but the idea left her mind as soon as she recognized her guest.

"Naruto?" she asked opening the door. She noticed how she didn't feel disappointed but rather excited at her guest. She saw Naruto often, some weeks more than she would see Sarada since she would go on missions more and more often, and Naruto would pay constant visits to her office. But instead of feeling bored of seeing Naruto, she observed how soothing his presence was to her, it was as if she was stressed but didn't notice until Naruto came and took the stress away. The blond one smiled, he crossed the door and hugged her. Didn't say anything but it was as if it was what Sakura needed. She hugged him back and they stayed like that standing in the entrance for several minutes. But none of them minded, and they didn't move until she heard another noise coming from the kitchen. Another timer for some boiling water she left in the kitchen.

She looked up from the hug and smiled at Naruto. He smiled back at let go off her, as he saw how she slowly left his arms and disappeared inside the kitchen.

"It smells good" he said after he closed the door and walked towards the kitchen, he stood by the door and saw Sakura take some corn from a pot. She laughed in response and looked at him.

"What brings you here Naruto?" she asked while putting the corn in a plate.

"It's his… today" he slowed his words as soon as they left his mouth. Sakura smiled sadly and nodded. "I wanted to see if you wanted company, you know? Sarada is on a mission and… well…"

"I'd love that" she answered looking back at what she was doing.

Sakura and Sarada had spent the first anniversary of her passed husband's death together with a group of friends, but it felt hard since they had to keep a brave face. The following year, they spent it by themselves and cooked Sasuke's favorite dishes, it all felt better that way, they cried, and they laughed, and they shared stories of Sasuke. It felt intimate and nice. This time, on the third anniversary, Sarada was out, but Sakura decided to keep on the tradition by doing the same activities she did but without Sarada. The addition of Naruto felt like it could lighten up the day.

"But wait… are you staying for the food or to keep me company?" she asked lightening up the mood.

"Well…" and as he was about to answer his stomach growled causing Sakura to laugh. "both" he finished joining on the laughter. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"It's all set" she said turning around with a plate of corn and another one of onigiri. "You can help me bring this to the table" she signaled some tuna sliced on the kitchen table.

"We are having all of the teme's favorites" he said. "I see a lot of tomato" and Sakura smiled in response.

The table was set in the living room, there was a glass wall that led to the garden. The Uchihas moved to the house that belonged to Sasuke's family, they had a garden now, Sakura thought of moving to a smaller place since the family would only be Sarada and her. But Sarada pleaded to stay in the household, and so they kept it. Sakura didn't have trouble paying it and the memories of it were too precious to lose, they had renewed the house when they moved in with Sasuke. It was quite a surprise when Sasuke suggested it to Sakura one day, she thought maybe the memories of the tragedy that took place would drive him forever away from that house, but Sasuke suggesting the moving made her realize he had made peace with what had happen when he was a kid. They did renovate the house, it looked close to entirely different than what it originally looked like, but they kept a few things the same, Sasuke asked for the garden to be kept the same, for that was the place where his mom spent most time and the staircase, because it reminded him of Itachi. These last things he shared with her on the rarest of occasions as they were sitting at their previous home and looking at the blueprint of the future renovations. Sakura noticed then how comfortable Sasuke had become with her, at the beginning of the relationship it would be she who would ask questions for him to open up, and little by little he would start telling her more and more until one day—same as that day—he started telling them randomly, sharing openly but only to her. Something she cherished a lot. Sakura remembered that with a smile as the took a sip of her green tea.

"What's funny?" Naruto asked before giving a bite to his onigiri.

"I was just reminiscing" she smiled. "Sasuke liked the garden" she said. "it reminded him of his mother".

Naruto stopped eating and looked at her.

"Did you know he asked me for help to get those Sakuras here?" Naruto said. Sakura looked at him now the confused look belonged to her.

"What?" she asked and looked at the garden, three Cherry Blossom trees on the sides of the garden covering it all with a shade of pink. "They weren't here from the start?" she asked.

Naruto denied with his head and explained. "He mentioned he would get the property back that belonged to his family" he started. "He also said 'I need Ino Yamanaka to set some trees there' which is the way Sasuke would word requests"

Sakura laughed at this story, Sasuke getting Sakura trees for the house prior to them moving would be probably one of the sweetest stories that Sakura had heard of her late husband. She had told him he liked that tree a long time ago but thought it would be cliché to have it in her garden because it would clash with her hair, she thought he hadn't paid attention when she told him that, but he had.

"So, you asked Ino?"

"Yeah, she didn't mind. I thought she would have told you" Naruto said, and Sakura denied with a smile.

"I love them" she said as she finished her tea. She had set a candle for Sasuke that day, next to it was a tomato onigiri, green tea, cooked corn and tuna with species. She had this tradition with Sarada to set the table as if Sasuke would pay them a visit that day, she would think everybody would find it weird but doubted Naruto would say anything about it. Which turned out to be true, he didn't bat an eyelid at the candle nor the extra spot on the table.

"Is this what you did last year?" Naruto asked from across the table.

"Yes" Sakura confirmed after a few seconds. "Sorry I didn't invite you that time, Sarada and I wanted to be alone"

Naruto nodded with his head.

"Don't apologize, I understand" he said. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"It's easier to deal this year I think, and I appreciate your company a lot" she smiled. "Sarada is out so I thought it'd be hard, but it's been okay. I think it'll hit me later"

Naruto looked at her and smiled. "When it does, I'll be here"

Sakura smiled at her friend, he didn't have to say it. At this point she knew Naruto would be there for her no matter what. She thought maybe it was a bit arrogant to think that way, but he showed time and time again how he had her back so she was confident if she ever felt like crying or breaking down…he would be there.

"I mean if you need distraction or if you want to cry" he added.

Sakura chuckled. "Yeah… we've had our fair share of crying I think" Naruto nodded.

They kept eating in silence, Sakura never ceased to surprise herself every time she noticed she had spent several minutes (sometimes hours) with Naruto without talking. They had developed the type of relationship where no words needed to be said, if someone had told her 17-year-old self that she and Naruto would spend a lot of time together in _silence,_ she wouldn't have believed it. One, because Naruto at 17—or any age prior to that—would talk endlessly always feeling like he needed to fill in the empty pauses in conversations and two, because she was the same. Naruto on the other hand, had realized this sooner than Sakura but he didn't think about it as much as she did, he enjoyed silence with her something that he didn't have with his other friends and he cherished it but to him it was what he knew would happen eventually. He remembered one day after he finished his training with Jiraiya in the Mount Myoboku that Jiraiya compared Naruto's friendship with Sakura, with the one he had with Tsunade. So, to him they would eventually behave more how Jiraiya and Tsunade did, they would share a lot of moments just communicating by small gestures or by mere looks. To Naruto it just made sense.

"Sakura-chan" the blonde said suddenly startling Sakura. They had both finished their meal and Sakura was fixing the dessert which was Dorayaki, Sasuke hated sweets but this was the only dessert he enjoyed, after Sakura begged him endlessly to try it for days.

"Hm?" she asked.

Naruto sighed and Sakura stopped what she was doing. "I have something to tell you" he started. Sakura left the spoon she was holding on the table to make sure she could pay utter attention.

"Yes?" she said. Naruto took a deep breath and continued.

"That night when…when Sasuke died" he said, his eyes didn't meet Sakura and she could feel his voice struggle, his frown growing deeper. "It was my fault". He waited for a reaction from her, but none came, he looked up at her and he could see a frown forming in her face, but her eyes were not staring at him like he thought they would. "To stop the fifth war from unleashing, we went to the Otsutsuki hideout Sasuke and I had taken care of the clan while Kakashi and the rest of the assembled team took care of the portal, everything was going according to plan, but the Otsutsuki leader came at me, I didn't have time to react since Kurama's chakra was sealed in that moment by Momoshiki and I got distracted, Sasuke intervened and took the fatal shot that was meant to be for me" he finished explaining. "I never dared to tell you what happened"

His voice trembled in that last sentence his hand was in a fist, he still didn't dare to look up, he was waiting for Sakura to yell or throw something at him. And he would take it, because nothing would make up for what he did. Nonetheless, none of those things happened, and instead Naruto felt soft hands on his fist. He looked up across the table and saw Sakura with a sad smile but reassuring eyes.

"I know" she said. Naruto's face had confusion all over it.

"How?" he asked. He tried to think if anyone could've told her, but he couldn't come up with a valid reason.

"I just knew it" she said. "I knew from the moment we were together after the fourth ninja war that Team 7's destiny would be to die for each other" she said. "I know Sasuke wouldn't have died if it wasn't protecting someone he loved. It's just how it was supposed to happen".

Sakura stood up from the table and crossed to the other side so she could be closer to her friend. She grabbed his face so that he would meet her eyes. "Don't blame yourself, it's how life occurs, it's not your fault and he died protecting his _brother"_

Naruto fought back the tears and reprimanded himself. This was the day Sakura had to be mourning her passed husband, but instead she was comforting him, he felt ashamed. And as if Sakura could read his mind, she pulled him up from the chair so that he was standing in front of her and without letting him react she hugged him.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan" he said.

"Don't hate yourself, he wouldn't want that" she said. Naruto hugged her back tighter than usual. After what seemed like five minutes, she broke the hug and looked at her friend, he looked down at her and saw a few tears on her cheek, he cleaned them with his hand right away. "Come, let's have some Dorayaki"

They talked and talked for hours, Sakura told him how much Sasuke talked about Naruto. He didn't believe it, she explained that it was with small gestures, but he thought of Naruto as a brother, just like what he had with Itachi. Naruto told him the whole story of how Sasuke gave him a hard time when he used his hawk for personal business, because after some time Sasuke explained he would need Taka to deliver something to Sakura. They laughed and when it was about to be midnight Sakura turned that laughter into crying, and Naruto held her, he held her until she fell asleep. He thought of waking her up or picking her up and taking her to her room, but instead decided to stay like that: his back against the wall, his head facing the garden and Sakura on his chest, one hand of his on the floor, the other one holding her.

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A fresh windy cool and crispy air started whistling and the first rays of sun fell on their faces. Sakura started to gain back consciousness, she opened her eyes and was slightly startled by the realization that she had fallen asleep, more importantly, on her friend. The blonde was still sleeping, his hand not leaving Sakura's waist and she blushed when she noticed this. The girl started shaking the Hokage and he slowly rose to consciousness, he yawned and looked down at her. To her surprise he didn't look astounded by the realization that they had fallen asleep together, he greeted her with a smile.

"Morning Sakura-chan" he said causing again for the woman to blush.

"Good morning" she responded trying to get ahold of herself.

He let go off her and she started to stand up, the blonde one took longer than she did. She knew he wasn't used to getting up quickly, after all she had been in charge of getting him out of bed several times. Once they were both standing up, she walked inside the house and he followed.

"Naruto, do you want breakfast?" she asked still a little bit shaken up by how they fell asleep.

"Oh no, Sakura- chan" he denied politely. "Boruto and Himawari are probably wondering where I am." He said and Sakura nodded understanding but slightly sad that he wouldn't stay longer. He walked towards the main door followed by Sakura, he opened it and turned around. "I see you Monday?" he asked a big grin on his face.

Sakura smiled back, his smile was contagious.

"Ah… no" she answered remembering something. "I'm going to be in Suna for three weeks" she said, and Naruto's grin slowly disappeared.

"Suna?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're opening a new Children's hospital and I have to make sure it starts running smoothly" she said.

"Oh"

"I thought you knew" she said. "But I think the paperwork started when Shikamaru was making the decisions so he might have signed that one"

"Oh yeah" he said scratching his neck. "I see" he said smiling at her. Before he could walk away, Sakura grabbed his hand and intertwined his fingers with her fingers.

"Naruto" she looked at his eyes for what seemed like forever. "Thank you for everything" she said.

Naruto smiled and hugged her one last time.

"I'll see you in three weeks then" he said while letting his friend go.

She could feel his smile was not genuine so as he started to walk making his way to the Uzumaki household Sakura added "Naruto, you can use my office even if I'm not there as a hideout! You know that, right?" she asked.

Naruto a few meters ahead already turned around and smiled at her.

"Yeah" he said. "Thank you" and as he bid goodbye, he couldn't explain to himself the deep emptiness that he was feeling at that precise moment. The prospect of using her office as his own personal hideout where to escape responsibilities didn't seem attractive as he thought it would seem. And he kept thinking about those three weeks he wouldn't hear from her, he tried to push the thought out of his mind, but as much as he tried it just kept crawling back, it was objectively irrational, and it scared him that he had even thought about that. As soon as he reached his home, he closed the door behind him and rested his head against the door. The same thought swarming back to his mind, he frowned as he stopped the battle within himself, he had to accept it, _he_ _would miss her_.

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Please write me a review if you liked it, constructive criticism is also accepted! I try to improve constantly and since this is my first NaruSaku I really want to hear what you think!

There's more NaruSaku coming but a lot of understanding and coming to term with what they're feeling in this confusing stage of the story for the main characters. Please stick with me!

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


	5. Chapter 5: The Hawk

Long time no see! I had half the episode for a long time but didn't find the time or inspiration to finish it, but yesterday I read last reviews I got… and it was all the inspiration I needed. Thank you to everyone that wrote a comment, they are the fuel 100% I need.

Without further ado… here's chapter 5.

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 5: The Hawk

"Then I took Boruto to eat ramen… I know what you're thinking, ´You had ramen two days ago´ but this was a special occasion. Alright, yes, I said that two days ago too" Naruto chuckled.

Whoever saw him at that precise moment would think he had gone insane. But whoever knew him would know he was just a man talking to his first love. Naruto was standing staring down at Hinata's grave as he would do at least once a week, he would tell her about his day and despite not receiving a response he could go on for hours.

"Himawari is also soon to graduate as a genin, can you believe it? She's also advanced for her class remember? She's still little in my eyes, if it were up to me, she'd stay one year more in the Academy. I know you wouldn't let me do that, but you would also agree that she's still a baby." He said before sitting down and letting out a big sigh. "You should see her, she's going to become Tsunade's apprentice soon. The grandma hasn't taken an apprentice since Sakura-chan…" Naruto slowed down when he mentioned Sakura, a hint of a guilty feeling started to act as it had for a few days now. He looked up at his passed wife's grave and smiled. "You know what? I think I should talk to you the same way that I would when you were here... with honesty."

Naruto lifted the bouquet of flowers he had brought to his passed wife and smelled it.

"I've been feeling weird" he said. "I think since you left, I've been relying a lot on Sakura-chan. I see her every day, and I guess it's just comfortable to have her around. The thing is she left for Suna a week ago and it's been the longest week. I don't want you to feel threatened, it's different but maybe the same? I can't explain it Hinata" he sighed. "I think I'm just confused, I felt guilty even thinking about Sakura, and I wondered why… To be honest Hinata, my mind forces myself to stop thinking about it because I feel like it's not right." He said and took the bouquet down. "I'm probably not making any sense at this point. And if anyone heard me talking about this to my wife, they'd think I've gone mad. But truth is… I've never been able to keep anything from you, not that I ever wanted to. Remember how there was classified information when I had just started as Hokage and I was not supposed to share, but I always came straight home to tell you all about it?" Naruto laughed. "They always scolded me and when they saw I wouldn't stop telling you things, they made you swear in and sign that you will never disclose classified information that I gave you" Naruto smiled. "I put you in so much trouble, Hinata. You didn't even ask to know, I just told you without thinking. You never complained even after they put you through interrogation for hours!" He laughed remembering the event. "You were so patient with me, Hinata"

He stared at his wife's grave and sighed for the third time, he got up and smiled. "I'll see you in a few days, okay?"

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Slowly he stepped into the room, he internally laughed—since when he felt like trespassing when coming? —he never cared about entering without announcing himself, yet that's how he was behaving. One week in after Sakura left for Suna, he was visiting her office for the first time. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't in the building, or in Konoha that made him feel uneasy going into the room. He noticed the empty office hadn't changed, he assumed probably nobody entered when Sakura wasn't there. He went straight to grab a drink from the mini fridge that Sakura kept in her office. He noticed the fridge was filled with small containers of milk a post-it on top of one:

 _Naruto, I think I left enough for the 3 weeks that I'll be away._

 _Please drink the ones with the closest expiration date first!_

 _~Sakura_

Naruto was surprised to see that Sakura had prepared all of this for him before she left. He felt nostalgy when noticing how she remembered he loved milk, he couldn't recall if he ever told her, and he was willing to bet she just figured it out over the years. He grabbed a box of milk from the mini fridge and proceed to sit down on the couch, but something caught his attention on the way to it. A piece of paper on the desk, he wondered if he should look at it or no, but then he saw his name written at the top of it. With careful hands he opened the piece of paper, catching a small whistle that was inside of it.

 _Naruto this is Taka's whistle,_

 _When you want to talk just send him with a letter,_

 _He will make sure it reaches me._

 _He's very fast, he was Sasuke's favorite hawk!_

 _(Don't ever tell Garuda)_

 _~Sakura_

Naruto grabbed the whistle and sat on the couch examining it, it was a very small thing color of gold, he smiled at the thoughtfulness his friend had had. With one thought in mind, he walked towards the desk and sat down. He would write to his friend.

 _Dear Sakura-chan_

He started writing and found it weird to add the "dear" it made it seem too formal. He didn't want it to look that way, it was Sakura, not an acquaintance. He scratched the paper and started writing on a new piece.

 _Sakura-chan!_

 _I just visited your office,_

 _it feels a little lonely to be here knowing you're not even in the building._

 _Thank you for the milk cartons._

 _How's the hospital going?_

 _I received a message from Gaara saying how happy he was that you were taking on the project._

 _Anyway, Konoha misses you Sakura-chan!_

 _-Naruto Uzumaki_

He let the pen down and wondered if maybe he should have made the note shorter, he folded it in a small piece until he was satisfied with the size of it. He made his way to the window, opened it, lifted the whistle and blew. In less than 5 seconds, a brown Hawk emerged from the sky and landed on his arm. The hawk was so familiar, so many years ago this hawk would be the only sign of Sasuke when he was out of the village and looking for Kaguya. The hawk jumped from his arm to the desk and looked at him, leaning his head to the side expecting Naruto to act. Naruto chuckled and concluded that this hawk was very similar to his passed friend, he wanted to get over with things fast and didn't like small talk—not that the hawk could in fact talk. He put a piece of paper in the small container that the hawk carried around his paw and closed it.

"Hey Taka, long time no see. Could you get this to Sakura-chan?" he asked, and the hawk flew immediately out of the window. He smiled at it as it flew away. He noticed how probably since Taka was a summon Sasuke had loyalty from, his family now had its loyalty too. He wondered if it would be the same story with Garuda and Aoda. He would have to ask Sakura later.

Naruto moved to the couch, to his safe space, suddenly feeling more comfortable about hanging at Sakura's office. He hadn't skipped from his responsibilities in this past week—to Shikamaru's surprise—his right hand was so used to him leaving at random hours during the day that he didn't even ask anymore or tried looking for him. After an hour of looking at his work of art on the ceiling and 30 minutes of arranging Sakura's office—changing the position of the desk, moving the couch closer to the window instead of the door, her shelves switched places—he left to resume work and later head home.

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Himawari bounced her right leg nervously as she sat in the bar stool, she had dragged it from the dining room to be able to sit next to the window that led to the entrance. She was waiting to receive her results from the academy, supposedly someone would be delivering the news right about now. She had completed her last exams a few days before but today was the day the results would be given to her at her doorstep. Despite the time range they gave her was from 6PM-8PM she had been sitting there not moving location since 3PM.

"Hima, it doesn't matter if you stay there it will not come any sooner" her brother said walking into the kitchen from his room and noticing his little sister hadn't moved from that spot in hours. Naruto was trying to cook something meanwhile in the kitchen.

"Let her be, she's excited" he said and Boruto shrugged.

Himawari looked at her brother a small second before turning around and looking at the window, scared to miss the moment a mail man would arrive at their door.

"What if he mistakes the door and delivers to the next house!" Himawari exclaimed not blinking even once during her sentence.

Boruto looked at Naruto and he just smiled at him.

"I think they'll know which is the house of the Hokage" Boruto said to her and she didn't respond.

Naruto finished cooking what looked like noodles with Tuna, he was glad some of his friends helped with cooking from time to time, because he only knew how to make noodles. Ino had brought some extra of salmon she had cooked some days before, Shikamaru brought some chicken teriyaki Temari had cooked, Tenten had sent Metal Lee with some porridge before that and he deeply appreciated how his Generation helped since Hinata passed away—started before, since she got sick and couldn't cook. Naruto had to admit, it was probably because they all knew his repertoire when it came to dishes variety and they just felt bad for Boruto and Himawari.

Boruto helped set the table by himself since asking for help from his sister was clearly out of the question. After he was done Naruto brought a big pan with the noodles and set it in the middle, when he was about to call Himawari to the table, the little one spoke.

"Oh my god! This is new! I thought they would send a mailman!" she screamed as she jumped off the chair and pulled the door open.

A hawk had descended from the sky and entered through the door, Naruto immediately recognized the bird. Naruto stood up from the table and approached the bird who had landed on the bar stool.

"Taka" he said as he came close to the bird.

"What does it say?" Himawari asked.

"I'm sorry, Hima. I'm afraid this is for me" he answered with a smile and she didn't hide her disappointment. She didn't dwell on it for a long time as she went back to the window.

Naruto checked the tube that Taka carried and got the message out of it.

"Thank you, you _are_ fast" he said to the hawk, without further a due the hawk left.

Naruto walked to the door and closed it leaving his daughter sitting on the stool staring out the window once again by herself. He walked towards the table with the piece of paper folded in his hand, he looked up after a few minutes and saw that Boruto had been looking at him.

"Work?" Boruto asked disappointed. "Aren't messages supposed to arrive during business hours?"

"It's not work" Naruto answered putting the piece of paper inside his back pocket. After a few seconds of his son's eyes examining him, he decided to elaborate. "It's Sakura-chan"

"So… personal?" Boruto pushed.

"Yes" Naruto answered quickly a little bit uncomfortable with the light sense of interrogation. "Hima, come to eat, it's all set!" he called out to his daughter. Boruto didn't take his eyes off him. "Yes?" he asked a little bit irritated by the way his son was looking at him.

"Why would Sakura-san send you something?" his son asked.

"We are friends" he answered sitting down and putting some of the noodles into his plate and proceeding to putting his share on Boruto. He didn't meet his eyes while serving him. "Hima, please come"

"One-minute dad!" she screamed from the window, not turning to see him.

"But why did she use Sasuke-san's hawk? Is it urgent?" he asked not missing his eyes.

"Not urgent, we are just checking on each other since she left to Suna" he answered. "Hima!" he said out loud.

Himawari got off the stool and was about to walk to the table when something caught her eyes, she opened the door and ran outside. She came back running inside and slammed the door.

"It's here!" she said. "It's here! Dad open it!" she gave it to him while shaking she sat down looking really excited. Naruto chuckled grabbing the piece of paper, he complied and slowly opened the paper to his daughter dismay.

He sighed looking at it, he moved his eyes from the paper to Himawari and faked reading it, when he noticed his daughter face to get worried, he started reading the paper.

"Uzumaki Himawari, Theory, 98. Taijustsu, 92. Ninjutsu 97, Genjutsu 80. Giving her an average of 91.75, setting Uzumaki Himawari on the top 3% of the Academy graduating with honors. The Genin ceremony will be held in four weeks, students are permitted 5 guests each. The dress code—

"Ahh!" she screamed and jumped to hug her dad. He dropped the letter of graduation and hugged his daughter after they were done, she jumped to hug her brother. Boruto got up and pat his sister on the head.

"Congrats Hima" he said dearly, and Naruto looked at them as he took a mental picture. He adored his kids.

"Thank you, okay so now I have to fix my outfit!" she managed to get out of the hug with the intention of going into her room, but Naruto managed to grab her arm.

"Hima, food" he gestured to the table. "It's in a week, we have time. Relax and join us for dinner now" he said and Himawari sighed and nodded resigned. She was too excited to eat but she complied.

"Will you start with your training with Tsunade now?" his brother asked after the three were finally sitting down and eating together.

"Hmm" she murmured swallowing down. "I will after the official ceremony, I need to have the paper to start legally training under her. I will start with chakra control with Tsunade-sama, and she will delegate part of the training to Sakura-san when she feels fit for me to learn about poisons. Tsunade-sama says Sakura is better than her at poisons now. But I can start with Sakura-san once she is back." She said before going back to his food, when she mentioned Sakura, Boruto's eyes travelled to see his dad. Naruto noticed but decided not to react at that.

They ate conversating about the graduation preparations, after all Himawari could only talk about that and whenever any of the men brought up another topic, she'd find a way to circle back to her graduation. They both noticed but decided to let her have it since it was something she excitedly looked forward to.

After they were done the three helped with the cleaning up, Himawari no longer needed a step staircase to wash the dishes so she took care of the dishes, Naruto put everything away and Boruto helped clean with a rag the table. They all took their separate ways after that, Boruto deciding to relax in the dinning room, Himawari ran straight to her room to see her possible clothing—she had also wanted to run and tell Tsunade but Naruto stopped her since it was close to midnight and she agreed to wait until the morning—and he went straight to his room only one thing in his mind.

He closed his door and right away pulled the letter that Taka had given him. For some reason he locked the door, he sat down on his chair in front of his desk and started reading.

 _Naruto, you took a long time to get to me, I thought you wouldn't._

 _Everything is good here, a lot of work but all the medic nins here are very motivated so it makes everything easier._

 _How's everything? Are you okay?_

 _Konoha misses me? Haha, I miss Konoha._

 _~Sakura_

Naruto smiled and re-read the small piece of paper that Taka had given him. He stared at it for what it was the longest time. He took a piece of paper from a drawer and turned to face his desk, took a pen from another drawer and decided to write.

 _Sakura-chan!_

 _A big thing is happening soon, Himawari is graduating._

 _She's excited, says you'll take her under your wing to teach her about poisons. I'm sure she will learn a lot._

 _I hope you're taking care and don't overwork yourself._

 _Is there anything you need? Let me know, I'll get it for you._

 _Konoha wants to see you!_

 _By the way, Taka is incredibly fast._

 _-Naruto_

He looked at the paper and wondered if he should send it now. After all, Sasuke's hawk just made a round trip to Suna. He folded the paper but before he was done, he heard a knock on the window, Naruto turned and saw the brown hawk.

"Hey Taka" he said as he opened the window. "Were you waiting for me?" he asked, and the hawk entered and stood on the desk looking at him, Taka took the paper with its peak and Naruto laughed. "You're okay taking it today?" he asked, and the hawk looked at him expectantly. "Okay, then" he proceeded to put the piece of paper in the tube Taka carried. "Thanks friend"

And the hawk left.

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The Uzumaki household was quiet in early Friday, Boruto left early for a mission with Team 7. Himawari could barely wait until sunshine hit to run to tell the news to Tsunade and Naruto was slowly waking up to complete his duties as Hokage. His routine was pretty standard, the Uzumakis rarely had breakfast together since everyone's schedules were different and by everyone, it meant Boruto and Himawari. His schedule with missions fluctuated constantly and Himawari's last year in the Academy had her leaving the house at irregular hours. Naruto's routine was the same almost like office hours he would say. He would be lying if he said he did not miss the spontaneity of missions every now and then, but concluded his work was more important so didn't dwell much on it.

He walked towards the tower, ANBUs would constantly follow him wherever he was going, it used to be very uncomfortable but after two years in the job he got used to it and no longer noticed it and normalized it, they were nowhere to be seen, after all. He was halfway to the tower when a soothing and familiar noise made him look up, he put his arm up and the familiar bird landed on his arm.

"Hey friend" he stopped his tracks and opened the container that Taka carried. He lifted his arm again and the hawk flew away, he opened it as he kept walking.

 _Naruto, you know what I'd love?_

 _If it's not a problem… they don't have Imagawayaki here,_

 _Can you send me some? Only if it's no problem._

 _I am sleeping at least 6 hours, so don't worry._

 _Gaara is being very considerate_ _and has a lot of people looking after me,_

 _don't worry._

 _Congratulations to Hima-chan. I knew she'd pass with no problem._

 _I am already preparing our syllabus, I am excited too!_

 _And I want to see Konoha too, I hope I can soon!_

 _Taka is very reliable, I told you!_

 _~Sakura_

Naruto smiled when reading this after he was done, he made a left instead of a right towards the tower, he had to get Imagawayaki for Sakura. He noticed how his companion caught on with him and followed accordingly. After he stopped by his teammate's favorite sweet shop he went straight into his office. Shikamaru was already waiting for him.

"I thought you'd never come" Shikamaru said as the Hokage walked through the door.

"Come on don't be exaggerated" Naruto said smiling.

The day was full of work and in between he managed to write his last letter of the day to Sakura. He waited until Shikamaru had left to talk to the Hyuuga clan leader to do it.

 _Sakura-chan!_

 _Don't say I don't fulfill my promises! Here are your sweets._

 _I hope they arrive fine, I trust Taka so I'm sure there won't be a problem._

 _Himawari is graduating right after you're due to arrive so you're invited. I'll wait for you here._

 _Remember Sarada and Boruto graduation day?_

 _It was a messy but fun day._

 _Can't believe Hima is 12 now._

 _Konoha is waiting for you, Sakura-chan._

 _-Naruto_

He set the paper down and blew the whistle. Soon Taka was landing from the skies and crossing the window.

"Friend can you carry a package this time?" he asked. No response, of course, he proceeded to set the package down and Taka grabbed it with its paw. He set the paper in the container and secured the package with a little rope.

Soon the hawk seemed to adjust the package itself with its other paw, one last look at Naruto and it flew away.

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His day continued as usual, he signed documents from every country.

"A meeting in Kirigakure?" he asked Shikamaru after scanning through the document.

"Ah, yeah" Shikamaru nodded from the other side of the office. "The Mizukage is inviting the representative of the village to go, it's for the anniversary of the alliance Kiri-Konoha. In a few days."

"Did I know of this?" Naruto sighed. Shikamaru laughed lightly.

"I think they invited you a long time ago, but we didn't answer right away so this is probably a reminded for RSVP" his friend said.

"Oh" he answered. "I see. Oh well. We must confirm now, I think" Shikamaru nodded.

"If you are leaving to there, you must prepare who is going to stay in Hokage duties" Shikamaru said.

"What do you mean? You always stay" Naruto said, and Shikamaru sighed at his friend absentmindedness.

"I am going to represent the village around that time in Suna, it was set a few months ago, you signed on it. It's the celebration of the _Allied ANBU forces Konoha-Suna_ , its three-year anniversary" he explained

"Oh, I see" it made sense that Shikamaru was going, after all his marriage to Temari highly linked him to that village. "Kakashi probably would have to"

"Ah" Shikamaru sighed. "He is going to fight it" and Naruto laughed in agreement.

A knock on the window made them both turn to it. It had been 7 hours after Taka was sent and he was back.

"Sasuke's hawk?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto stood up to open the window and allowed the bird inside. He took the paper from the hawk, pet it on the head—something it didn't appreciate, it was so similar to Sasuke. And let it go.

"Ah" he answered to his friend.

He sat down and read the paper.

 _Naruto, thank you for the sweets! I craved them so much._

 _I have bad news, I noticed today that about half_ _of the medic nins_

 _that will take over the rehabilitation section of the hospital_ _don't have the proper training._

 _I estimate it will take me one month more to help them get to proper level._

 _I will send the proper document to request to the Hokage's office for the extension of my permit in Suna._

 _I will miss Hima's graduation. Please apologize to her from me._

 _I hope Konoha still waits for me_

 _~Sakura_

Naruto stared at the piece of paper for a long time, long enough for Shikamaru, the lazy shinobi, to say something.

"Everything okay?" he asked not trying to inquire so much.

After what seemed like five minutes Naruto looked up and met his friend's eyes.

"Change of plans" he said. Shikamaru arched an eyebrow. "You will go to Kirigakure and I will go to Suna"

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Oh damn, he is going to Suna you guys. I really wanna thank everyone who wrote me a review, who faved and followed this story. You motivate me so much.

Btw, I couldn't find the name of Sasuke's hawk! Only of his summon Geruda so I just called him Taka (like his ex-team lol) I guess it just fit. Next it's going to be a little bit different more interaction, there was not a physical interaction here but I wanted to show a bit of longing of each other since they're so used to being around the other. I hope you stay with me.

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


	6. Chapter 6: Suna

Category changed.

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 6: Suna

He held his coat close to his face that aided him to cover it from the sand. Despite them traveling by the newly made train that connects the Land of Wind to the Land of Fire—which crosses the Land of Rivers—some sand would come through the closed windows somehow. Naruto had never had as much protection in his time as Hokage as he had now, since it was the "Allied ANBU forces Konoha-Suna" he had over 270 ANBUs travelling with him. Not only his personal ANBU forces which made up to 12—twelve was the minimum amount of ANBU he was required to travel with when travelling to friend nations, it was 45 when it was to unfriendly states—but also ANBUs from Investigation, Recognition, Spy, and other sections. He had never felt so secure in his life, so safe he felt that he had spent most of his travel sleeping or looking through the window while covering his face, completely unworried. The landscape was not very variant everything the rails crossed was an overly sandy path.

"Yo" Kakashi greeted him. Naruto looked up from his seat and saw the gray man looking inside into his cabin, Naruto had four ANBUs stationed outside of his lone cabin. The other 266 were scattered around the train, some he suspected were even _on_ the train.

"Kakashi-sensei" he smiled and greeted him inviting him to sit. The eldest followed and sat in front of him.

Kakashi after he had retired as a Hokage and moved to give place to Naruto had decided on retiring but after two years he felt bored. He requested permission to join ANBU as an advisor, the permission was granted, nonetheless he showed that despite his age he had the physique to carry full out S missions without a problem and became the highest Taicho in the alliance. Everybody deemed his talent too important to just be an advisor.

"How did you convince Tsunade-baachan to cover for me instead of you?" he asked as the eldest removed his gloves.

"Oh well… let's just say I have the highest order of Sake from Suna" he said causing Naruto to smile. "So…" he started.

Naruto looked at him arching a brow.

"What?" he asked curiously.

"I thought Shikamaru was going to come to this trip, after all, he is highly linked with the village" the sensei commented.

Naruto laid his back completely against the back of his seat "Yeah, I decided that it'd be better for him to go to the Kirigakure event"

Kakashi nodded. "Of course," he said. "Because Shikamaru has such a tight relationship with the Mizukage"

Naruto sighed.

"Are you trying to make a point Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask and shrugged.

"I am just curious. I was a Hokage too, you know? I am interested on the thought process when delegating who goes to where" he said, he pulled his book out of his coat pocket after he finished his statement.

Naruto didn't react to this and decided to stare out of the window, despite not having much of a landscape, he felt enticed by the desert look and the contrast the gold color made with the light blue sky. It was something he would certainly never be able to see in Konoha. Konoha was green, and despite loving the forests that the Land of Fire had throughout the country, he certainly appreciated the Land of Wind and its beautiful deserted landscapes.

"You know" Kakashi called out from behind his book. Naruto turned his head slightly to look at him. "Now that I think of it… I think Sakura is working now in Suna"

Naruto turned his whole body to face his sensei, he wasn't surprised by his line of inquire. He himself wasn't a hundred percent sure why he had so suddenly changed all plans, but in the back of his mind he knew he would get asked eventually about his decision.

"Yeah, I know" he simply answered wondering what Kakashi's next question would be and wondering what he himself would think of answering because at that precise moment he was not sure of anything.

To his surprise Kakashi didn't press on the subject and just nodded acknowledging Naruto speaking. It was only twenty minutes later when they felt the train stopping, they heard a knock outside the door.

"Hokage-sama" An ANBU called from outside. Kakashi slowly stood up and stretched his back.

"I got to hurry and check the squad" Kakashi said as he motioned a goodbye to Naruto and headed outside. Naruto stood up and shook his coat to get rid of the sand that it caught.

He stepped outside and saw his four ANBUs, their masks placed on.

"Let's go" he said to them and they nodded in acknowledgment, two in front of him and two behind. He had almost forgotten how security worked every time he went out of the village, when he was inside the village, he would have four ANBUs following him around, but they were hidden, and he barely noticed them now. But it was different when he was outside of Konoha, he was required to have twelve, and the protocol asked them to stay closer to him something he still had to get used to.

As they stepped outside of the train there were about twelve Sand ANBUs waiting for them at the Suna Station guarding Gaara, the Kazekage. The two ANBUS stepped outside standing to the right of the entrance immediately, Naruto stepped out and after him the other two stood to the left of the entrance. The other eight of his guard came later standing behind the Hokage. Naruto smiled at his friend and approached him, disregarding protocol. He gave a warm handshake to Gaara that he returned with the same warmth.

"Nice to see you" Naruto said grinning. Gaara nodded a small smile forming on his face.

"I'm very happy that you came" his friend answered.

The rest of the ANBUs of Konohagakure slowly walked out of the train making a formation and standing straight waiting for orders.

"The leader of Sunagakure ANBU alliance will take Konohagure's ANBUs to their accommodations. We have reserved some other accommodation for the Hokages" Gaara said nodding at Naruto and looking at Kakashi who had just walked out of the train. The gray haired heard his name and made his way towards the Kages.

"Kazekage-sama" Kakashi greeted. Gaara nodded at him in acknowledgment. "I don't need special accommodation, I am okay in staying with the rest of the Ops" he said smiling behind his mask.

"I insist Kakashi-san" Gaara said and the gray-haired man nodded not intending to challenge the call of the Kazekage. After all, they probably had already gotten the accommodation ready for the ANBUs and there was no spare bed for Kakashi to stay in. Kakashi and Gaara had known each other well throughout the fourth great war and Gaara respected the captain very much, so it was understandable that the Kage wouldn't have left the forger Hokage sleep with the rest of the ANBUs.

Kakashi and Naruto started walking the way Gaara had indicated while the rest of the ANBUs—except the ones in charge of Naruto's personal guard—followed the leader of the Suna ANBUS alliance. It was not the first time either of them had visited Suna in a diplomatic visit, Kakashi had done it twice during his time as Hokage and for Naruto it was probably his eighth visit. They knew the drill, they would be given a personal room in the Elite Section of the Suna Hotel, it was very luxurious, and both thought it was unnecessary but Gaara didn't skimp on expenses when it came to welcoming fellow Kages, especially when they were his _friends_.

When they reached the lobby, Kakashi bid them both adieu and headed to his room to rest from the trip. Naruto was given a key, his room was strategically placed in the middle of two small rooms, this for protection. One on each side intended to host his personal ANBUs so they could keep guard when the Hokage was sleeping. This was highly unnecessary, Naruto thought, but he had been a Hokage for some years now, so he didn't fight the system when it came to protocol for his safety.

"Naruto" Gaara called. They were only the two of them left and were standing in the lobby. Naruto came to face him, they had already ditched the Kage hat and robe.

"Yes?" Naruto asked his friend with a smile. Gaara looked uneasy for a moment causing Naruto to narrow his eyes.

"I am… I am sorry about Hinata" he said meeting his eyes, a sadness in his light blue eyes that would hardly—if ever—be seen.

Naruto's smile faded but picked it up a few seconds later.

"I am too" he confessed.

"I should've gone to the funeral" Gaara continued.

Naruto reached for his friend's shoulder and squeezed it.

"It's okay" he said. "I know you would have. It was at the same time Suna was hit with sandstorms, you had to be here" Gaara looked regretful at this.

Gaara looked uncomfortable trying to find the words for what he wanted to ask.

"How… how are you?" he genuinely asked his blond friend. Naruto was a bit take back by this question but felt like answering sincerely, after all Gaara and he had bonded over their same experiences and he was probably the only person he felt like could relate to the same experiences he had as a child which created a sense of comfortableness when both talked.

"Some days… some days are good, some are not so good. It's been almost 10 months now" he said realizing the time himself. "God, I hadn't even thought of the time until now. But I guess if you compare me to day one it has gotten better, but it's not entirely a linear process" he finished while scratching the back of his neck.

"I-I can't relate to losing a significant other" Gaara confessed. "But I met her in the war, and I know she was a kind soul, too kind to be a shinobi" he said.

Naruto nodded. "She was" he said in a whisper.

"Sorry to interrupt" Ayame, Gaara's assistance, chimed in and interrupted the pair. "Kazekage-sama your presence is needed by the council" she said apologetically.

Gaara sighed and nodded, looked at his friend.

"I'm afraid I won't see you until tomorrow at the event" Gaara said. "Nonetheless, I'll make sure you are shown around if needed and Ayame will give you the schedule for tomorrow" he said. Ayame nodded enthusiastically at that.

"That sounds good to me" Naruto said. "Thank you Gaara" he said and Gaara nodded.

.

.

.

His room was slightly differently to the one he had gotten a few years ago in his last visit to Suna. It was the same size with a different decoration, it looked to Naruto like a small apartment. It had a petite living room, a studio and a king size bed, the bathroom was bigger than even the one he had at home.

"This is too much" he murmured to himself while examining the fridge in the living room.

He exhaled as he got a glass from a cabinet on the side of the fridge and poured cold milk in it. They had travelled for about 12 hours and he despite knowing he should feel tired, he didn't. He was feeling differently, he felt nostalgy because after his talk with Gaara he had just realized it was his first time making an overseas trip after Hinata's passing. The realization had just hit him, and he wondered how he hadn't thought of that before, he thanked internally the fact that it never crossed his mind prior to traveling. He was honest when he talked to Gaara, the person on day 1 to today were two different Naruto, but that didn't mean that small milestones like travelling abroad for the first time were small achievements. As a matter of fact, he kept track of every new and daring thing he did for the first time as a widow, this however, he hadn't even prepared for. For the first time he went to office, first time he picked up Himawari from school, first time he had dinner with his family, for every single event he was going to do for the first time as a widow he had been presently aware prior to it and had mentally prepared himself at least a day in advance. For this trip he hadn't.

The water running from the shower soothed his hot skin courtesy of the weather of Suna. He let the cold water cover him entirely while his mind traveled to the place that he was no longer afraid to go to. Hinata's passing. He didn't know why he hadn't been worrying about this trip and the first time he would be seen abroad after Hinata's death, but after twenty minutes thinking over and over again about it, he closed the water stream as he came to a conclusion; it was an improvement.

He got dry and dressed again, he got dressed in his normal attire since it was still sunny outside and going to sleep would only fuck up his sleeping schedule and deny him from working against the jet lag. Fresh and clean he decided to head out.

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.

.

He felt his ANBU follow him immediately, he knew he could persuade them to leave him alone but knew they'd have a hard time with their superior and Naruto didn't like getting anyone in trouble. They were at a far distance to allow him liberty to do as he wanted but close enough to be aware if any threat came close to him.

Naruto wandered outside of his hotel and tried to blend in but got asked for pictures by a few civilians in Suna, he complied as usual.

"Hokage-sama!" a young girl said wearing a nurse uniform.

"Hello" he greeted.

"Can I get a picture with you, please?" she politely asked bowing deeply and he nodded in response. They got a quick picture and she bowed goodbye with a big smile.

"Oh, excuse-me" he said.

The woman looked around to face the Hokage. "Yes, Hokage-sama!" she answered enthusiastically, and Naruto wanted to laugh at her reaction.

"You are a nurse" he said, and she nodded eagerly. "You work in the new hospital?" he asked.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Well… I am still being trained in the new Hospital it is not officially open yet, I am in a break now" she explained.

"I see" he said. "Can you tell me where that building is, please?"

The young woman's face lit up and she smiled.

"I will take you, Hokage-sama" she said.

"Oh, no, no" he said apologetically. "Just let me know where it is, I don't want to disturb your free time" he said.

"It's no problem, it would be an honor" she said, and Naruto shrugged smiling and accepted her help.

They started walking to the hospital immediately.

"What's your name?" Naruto asked and she smiled again.

"Rukiri Hotaku" she answered cheerfully. "at your service, Hokage-sama" Naruto found her amusing, she had a lot of energy it reminded him of a young Konohamaru.

"You just became a nurse?" he asked.

"Yes!" she answered. "I have been a trainee nurse for half a year but after the training I will finish from Sakura-sama I will become a nurse and hopefully with further education I can become a doctor in 4 years!" she said.

Naruto's eyes warmed by the name the young nurse mentioned.

"Sakura huh, how is the training going?" he asked.

"Do you know Sakura-sama, Hokage-sama?" she asked. "Oh, what am I saying? Of course, you do! She is from Konoha, I'm stupid for asking that" she said.

He laughed. "Sakura was my teammate when we were genin" he told her as they crossed one long avenue and she kept guiding him.

"Wow" she said. "That's amazing!" she said. "I guess talented and strong people are always drawn to each other" she said thoughtfully, and Naruto blushed a little, he was not used—even though it could happen often—to so much flattery, although hers sounded sincere. "Sakura-sama has created the new hospital, we really needed it! We are estimating that it will decrease the amount of fatalities a year" she said. "Also, it will have a child hospital which we highly need!" she shared, and Naruto smiled.

"I am glad Suna and Konoha can work together to improve each other" he said, and she smiled.

"Yes" she said. "We are here" she announced.

Naruto looked up at the building that was in front of him. It was a huge building with glass doors and windows it looked similar to the new hospital in Konoha but had an extra floor. He examined it before walking forward, it looked impressive.

"Thank you Rukiri" he said.

"No problem, Hokage-sama" she said. "Do you need me to take you to a place in specific?" she asked.

"Don't worry, I just want to check it by myself" he answered. She bowed deeply and bid him adieu.

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.

.

He entered the building, and everything smelled new, it was not an open hospital yet so the people in the front door were preparing the computers and taking notes, he assumed they were getting familiar with the new software. He decided not to bother anyone there for instructions, so he kept walking.

He walked straight to the elevator, and without any idea he pressed a random button in the elevator.

He pressed 5.

It took off and he wondered if they were going to add music to the elevator to make the ride more entertaining, he laughed at himself for even thinking that. Everybody who visited a hospital was going for an important reason and none of those were going because they were bored.

He reached number five and he felt about 200 signatures of chakra and he followed the trail, he entered a huge room that looked like a laboratory. The door was open, and he saw everyone busy taking, what he assumed was poison, out of a doll.

"Sari, you can't apply that much chakra to the body or the control on the chakra used to pull the poison out will loosen and make the spread worse"

He recognized that voice immediately and saw a pink haired woman in a doctor robe lecturing who seemed to be Sari. Sari nodded sweating greatly as she tried to accomplish the feat. He looked at the whole room and felt impressed by his friend. He knew Sakura was a big deal, she was the head of the hospital of Konoha, the Children's hospital and the head of the Fire Country's hospitals. But he barely got time to see her in action.

She walked around the room checking on the work of every of her students, congratulating those who were doing a good job and checking on those falling behind. She did so diligently not missing one person. After twenty minutes, she spoke.

"It is good for today, we've done this for 5 hours. We need to keep your chakra reserves well enough to continue poison D training tomorrow" she announced. "I will need you to read chapter 22, 23, 24 and 46 of the Book of Venom's by Chiyo-sama for tomorrow, I will quiz you and those who don't pass my exam won't be allowed to continue the training. Okay?" the threat said in such a nicely and calm voice that it contrasted with the meaning of it.

"Yes, Sakura-sama!" they all said in unison and she smiled and bowed goodbye. A few of them approached her to ask some quick questions. And after 10 minutes the room was empty, and she was left alone in the room writing some notes.

Naruto stopped hiding his chakra suddenly, causing Sakura to immediately look up and then turn to the door, Naruto stood there leaning on the door frame and grinning at his friend. Sakura barely had time to process, her body moved on her own and her fast walk became a sprint as she went forward towards her friend.

She jumped and hugged him, he picked her up with a big hug in return. Unconsciously smelling her hair in the process, he had missed this.

Sakura on the other hand, felt like all the stress she had had the last month started to melt away. Naruto was her safety net, her safe space. And boy, did she miss him. Gaara had provided absolutely every facility she could need, a comfortable accommodation, meals, assistants, tools, but she lacked a person to go to when things got tough. She hadn't realized something was missing until her chest was pressed against him in a hug that relaxed her every limb.

"God, Naruto" she said smiling against his neck. "What are you doing here?" she asked not pulling away.

He put her down and rested his chin on top of her head and smiled.

"I have an event here in Suna" he said. Sakura hugged him deeply before letting go to be able to look at him. He didn't let her get away completely as he still held her arms.

"Really?" she asked smiling. "Which one?"

"Suna-Konoha ANBU Alliance" he responded, and Sakura chuckled.

"Sounds important" she said, and he smiled in response.

"It is an anniversary, I think we give medals and take pictures, very fun" he said sarcastically, and Sakura smiled sweetly.

"Will there be an—

"Sakura-sama!" a young girl ran into the room calling for Sakura and immediately stopped her tracks as soon as she saw the couple of figures' interaction. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized and bowed deeply and fast before turning around.

"Aiko, it's fine" Sakura said stopping the girl from leaving, she gave a squeeze to Naruto's arms before letting go and facing the girl. "What is it?"

Aiko looked uneasy at her feet before turning to face Sakura, she looked up with flushed cheeks, swallowed hard and met her green eyes.

"It's just that—I… I was sent to get you for the supervision of the seal technique" she said.

"Shoot" Sakura reprimanded herself. "Okay, Aiko, I'll be there in a second" Aiko nodded and left the room almost running.

Sakura laughed at this and then looked at her friend.

"Naruto, I have to check this seal technique" she said apologetically.

"It's okay" he said nodding understandingly.

"Wait" she said right after. "Do you have something to do?" she asked.

He denied with his head.

"Do you want to see it?" she asked. "It's a new technique and maybe it's entertaining for you. It will take less than two hours, I'll treat you for dinner after!" she said.

He smiled and nodded. "Sounds good"

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.

.

Sakura arrived at a type of room which held about 300 people, there was a type of podium where the future head doctor of the new Suna hospital was standing at, the almost 300 doctors standing still facing the podium.

"Sorry Teri-san" she apologized to the head doctor standing behind the podium.

"No problem, Sakura-san" the doctor dismissed the apology smiling.

The room's aura changed the moment they all saw the Hokage enter the room. They all started looking at each other confused. He walked standing close to Sakura.

"I apologize for my tardiness" Sakura said out loud. "The Hokage wanted to see the final examination of the seal technique" she announced, and Naruto looked around the room, he could feel the nervousness in the area and he suddenly felt bad that he had decided to come. He thought this type of examination was already hard enough knowing that Sakura would oversee them and now they had a Hokage presence adding more pressure.

"You guys know what to do, you should be already ready in a team of three" Teri started. "The exam will start… now!" he said and all the medic nins started the examination.

Each team of three had a table with a dummy on it, they were applying the seal and apparently it would take a maximum of 2 hours to complete. Sakura was supposed to oversee the process and take note on those who passed, those who were close to getting the seal right and those who miserably failed.

"Oh sorry" Sakura apologized in a low voice. "Teri is the new head of the Suna hospital, he is a very talented doctor" she said to Naruto.

Teri looked at the Hokage and bowed deeply.

"It's an honor to have you here Hokage-sama" he said, and Naruto thanked back his hospitality. They all sat down in front of the room, their sitting area was in a higher area than the rest of the student's tables so they could oversee everyone work perfectly.

Suddenly the light on top of one the tables in the back lit up. Sakura stood up.

"That's my signal" she said to Naruto before getting up and walking towards that table. Naruto looked at his friend walk towards the back of the room.

"Hokage-sama" Teri called him, and he looked at him. "I really want to thank you for allowing Sakura-san to come and teach here" he said.

Naruto smiled in response. "Suna and Konoha are now great friends, Suna has helped us a lot too" he confessed.

"I see" he said. "Still this sealing technique is changing everything" Teri answered.

Naruto looked at him asking him to elaborate.

"The technique that Sakura-san developed" he explained. "It isolates the injured part of the body; it can be a poisoned section of the body, an organ not working, a part of the body who got gangrene, even a limb that is in fire… it stops it from spreading to the whole body by sealing that section to work on it separately. It is moving all the medicine world forward" He finished.

Naruto looked at the pink-haired nin and smiled.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan is impressive" he admitted with a grin.

He observed how she leaned down to oversee the progress that the table that called her had made and wrote down in her tablet notes that she'd probably revise later.

The examination continued, after 20 minutes a group finished and Sakura walked over to examine the work they had done on the dummy, soon after others finished and at 45 minutes most of the groups had left their room with the approval of Sakura. Only twenty-minute later the remainder of the teams finished, and Sakura gave approval to all of them. Keri left with some notes and thanked Sakura and Naruto before following his rounds at the hospital.

"Did you get bored?" Sakura asked when she was picking up the last of the dummies and putting them in a huge bin.

"No" Naruto said as he helped her close the bin. "You didn't tell me you had developed a jutsu" he said catching Sakura off guard.

Sakura smiled at her friend and nodded. "I had been working on it for five years, I implemented it a year ago in Konoha and it's been working very well so I decided to bring it to Suna" she said while blushing, Naruto noticed that Sakura didn't like taking credit most of the times.

"Congratulations" he said, and she smiled.

"Food?" she asked cheerfully, and he nodded.

.

.

.

They looked for a long time for something to eat. They hadn't found a place, not because there wasn't any food available. Suna was a huge metropolis and had restaurants with any type of food imaginable. But they couldn't decide on a place, Naruto wanted ramen and Sakura anything but.

"Come on!" Sakura said. "I'm hungry, let's just get some fish"

"No, we haven't found any place with grilled fish that ALSO has ramen" he said. "But… we can go to that ramen place and you can get fish in the ramen"

"Naruto no!" she pleaded, and he kept arguing.

"Why don't you like Ramen?" he asked.

"Because it's not healthy! I need some healthy carbs, protein so I can recover and be ready to use my chakra tomorrow" she said.

"Ramen is perfectly healthy" he argued. "Look at me! I am fit and strong and that is all I eat"

"Naruto, your gut bacteria had to evolve to keep up with how little nutrients you were giving it. The rest of the humans can't survive off ramen" she said.

Naruto sighed and nodded. "How about this"

Sakura looked at him and crossed her arms listening.

"You get grilled fish" he said. "I get ramen, we take it to go and eat it at my room" he offered.

Sakura looked at him for a moment.

"Sounds like a plan" she sighed, and he grinned.

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.

They reached the hotel the Hokage was staying at.

"Wow" she said when entering. "It's like your own apartment" she said, and he laughed.

"Yep" he said. "Where are you staying?" he asked.

"Oh, I was offered a room by Gaara here as well, but Temari offered me her apartment and it's just behind the hospital so that's where I am staying at" she said.

"I'm sure you regret not accepting his offer now, huh?" he asked while pulling the table to the middle of the living room and setting the food down.

Sakura laughed in response. She pulled some plates that were in a cabinet on the side of the fridge.

"How is your schedule looking like for tomorrow?" she asked.

Naruto sat down on the floor and Sakura joined him perpendicularly to where he was sitting and started to open her own food.

"Hmm" he said while chewing his first bite. "Actually, someone still has to tell me what the plan is" Sakura laughed at his obliviousness.

"Oh well, hopefully someone will" she said. She opened a small box of sweets she got, and Naruto stole a piece. "Hey!" she complained.

"What?" he asked putting his arm up so she couldn't reach it. "It's mine!" he said moving the sweet to his other hand which was further away from Sakura.

"Naruto, you said you wanted only ramen! I asked you twice!" Sakura said while trying to reach for the sweet, Naruto used his free hand to try to keep her away by pushing her shoulder.

"Yeah, but I didn't know it was going to smell so well!" he said, and Sakura gave up with a scuff.

"Ugh, okay but that's it no more stealing" she said, and Naruto laughed and brought the sweet down.

"Can't promise anything" he said with the sweet in his mouth causing Sakura to roll her eyes while laughing. That was the Hokage of Konoha she reminded herself, she would forget sometimes that this guy was the leader of the strongest village in the world. He was still Naruto to her.

They continued eating and Sakura vented about the trouble she faced when implementing the new system. She had brought her new sealing technique which had shown to be successful, but some other areas like children's rehabilitation was lacking behind. A lot of doctors had little to no knowledge in rehabilitation of any kind, therefore the reason she had to make her trip slightly longer than she had currently considered.

"Do you still need to stay here?" Naruto asked taking away the last sweet Sakura had in her small box, she smiled at him and his sleaziness to steal her food in the perfect moment so she wouldn't call him out. He knew she knew, so he only half smiled acknowledging knowing.

"I think yes" she answered resting her head on her hand.

Naruto sighed and leaned on the sofa which was behind him.

"That sucks" he said, and she smiled.

"I propose something" she said, and he turned his head to look at her. "I will take the weekend off to go to Hima's graduation, I can come back after that" she said.

Naruto sat up straighter and turned his body to fully face her.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and Sakura smiled.

"Yeah" she confirmed. "I can fix my schedule, I do want to be there it's important" she said, and he smiled in response.

She got up from the floor and picked up the empty tray she had and before heading to the trash bin, she put a hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair.

"I am happy you're here"

The words coming from her mouth made Naruto look up at her, she smiled at him and walked towards the bin which was across the room his eyes didn't leave her form.

"I am happy too" he said to himself.

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.

.

"I suppose Gaara was happy to see you" Sakura started saying. "He really admires you" she said.

The blond man looked up at her as he laid his back into the back of the bed.

"The admiration is mutual" He said thoughtful. "He asked me about Hinata" he said.

Sakura nodded while laying on the bed perpendicular to him. She laid her head on his leg before responding. "Yeah, he asked me as well about you and how you were handling it." She said. "So… how are you handling it?" she asked.

Naruto smiled. "It is better, Sakura-chan"

Sakura laid on her side facing Naruto. "I am glad to hear that" she said, and he smiled, intuitively his left hand reached out to grab a strand of hair that was on her face and moved it to the side.

"I think I have been relying too much on you, I am sorry for the burden" he said smiling apologetically.

"Hey" she frowned. "It's not a burden at all" she said. "So, without me… were you okay?" she asked sincerely.

He looked to the window before staring back at her to answer. "I was not" he said. "But I think it's not entirely because you were helping me cope. I am so used to you now Sakura-chan" he admitted.

Sakura blushed at this. "I guess we had been spending a lot of time together" she admitted.

She slowly got up from laying down and sat up facing Naruto.

"Do you think we should stop?" she asked.

Naruto frowned at this but understood where she was coming from.

"I don't want to" he said.

"I don't want to either" she answered back. "But… maybe it's not healthy" she said.

He nodded.

"Sakura-chan" he started, and she looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

"I have a confession" he started. "Shikamaru… he was the one who was supposed to come to Suna" he said.

Sakura's face demonstrated a hint of surprise, but she suppressed it trying to think of reasons why Shikamaru didn't make the cut for the final trip.

"I asked him to go somewhere else instead so I could come to Suna" he continued trying to examine Sakura's reaction, but she showed no desire to jump into any conclusion—as clear as that could be—and let him finish his thought. "I wanted to come here to see you" he said.

Sakura's face blushed slightly, and she looked away and started playing with her hair, which was now below shoulder length.

"Why?" she asked.

"I am… I am not sure" he said sighing. Then after a few seconds of silence he continued. "I only know it was not because I needed your help. I missed you… but not how I would miss a friend"

Sakura got chills with this last sentence.

"Maybe we are just confused" she said.

"You too?" he asked.

Sakura swallowed hard before daring to meet his eyes.

"Yes, me too" she said. "I also missed you, Naruto I—

A knock in the door interrupted her thought process and they both turned to look at the door. Naruto sighed and met Sakura's eyes, she smiled and nodded at him gesturing that they'd continue their conversation later.

Naruto stood up and walked towards the door.

"Yes?" Naruto asked as he opened it. "Oh Ayame" he said noticing the figure on the other side of the door.

The small young woman looked nervous, and anyone would be. She was shadowed by two ANBUs who had appeared the minute she stepped a foot on that floor.

"Ho-Hokage-sama" she said trying to push through her nerves. "I am here to give you the itinerary of tomorrow" she said.

"Ah" Naruto opened the door completely. "Please come in"

Ayame intended to enter the room but she stopped cold the moment she noticed Sakura's presence. And to be more specific, her presence on the Hokage's bed. She suddenly was out of loss of ideas on what to do. Sakura noticed the young woman and her hesitation.

"Hi Ayame" she said to the girl. "I can leave if the information is confidential" she said as she started to get up from the bed.

"Oh, no, no Sakura-sama" she said and finally stepped into the room her cheeks fully blushed. Naruto closed the door unbothered after thanking the ANBUs and dismissing them, he guided her to the table in the small living room he had.

Ayame followed and put the binders she was carrying with her.

"Ohm" she started. "It won't take long, Hokage-sama" she said apologetically.

"Don't worry Ayame" he said smiling and proceeding to sit around the table. Ayame took a seat next to him and started explaining.

"Tomorrow in the morning after breakfast it starts the demonstration of ANBU skills. It will be a show open for Suna's population. It will start with an introduction of the Suna ANBUs and then Konoha ANBUs with Kakashi-sama, then the Kazekage's entrance. Gaara-sama will introduce you after he arrives"

"So, I get to make an entrance?" he asked excited and Sakura laughed in the other room.

"Ohmm" Ayame started. "Sure" she said not really expecting that response. "After that, each section of the ANBUs will showcase their skills according to their areas. Then the leaders of both nations will exchange gifts and award the heads of each section of the opposite nation."

Naruto looked over the map Ayame handed him, the seating map in the stadium. It looked diligently made and Naruto correctly assumed she had made the whole thing. It was a binder with all the information necessary.

"And then after the exhibition there will be a lunch for all the alliance of ANBUs with your presence and Gaara-sama's" she explained. "You have time to get ready for the trip back that night as you intended after that, Hokage-sama" she said. "Gaara-sama made sure you will have everything ready for when you need to leave tomorrow night"

"You're leaving tomorrow?" Sakura asked suddenly, she was leaning on the wall of the room looking to the pair. A sad look on her face and Naruto looked at her also a hint of feeling downheartedness in his face. Ayame read the room and she excused herself after saying some last specifications.

"You will be picked up tomorrow at 9AM, the binder is self-explanatory. Thank you for your time Hokage-sama" she said quickly and bowed goodbye to Sakura as she exited.

"Yes" Naruto answered to the medic sadly after he heard Ayame leave the room. "We are scheduled to go back tomorrow"

Sakura sighed as she walked to the table and sat down next to Naruto putting one leg on the chair and hugged it while looking at her friend. She met his eyes and smiled sadly, she instinctively reached to ruffle his hair a type of touch that seemed friendly but became intimate the moment she started combing his hair with her fingers to the side.

"Sometimes I forget that you are the Hokage" she said while pushing his hair to the left. "Maybe you should try this look" she said trying to lighten the mood.

He gave her a quick laugh and gently grabbed the hand that was on his hair and held it with his hand and placed it on his knee.

"Can you come tomorrow?" he asked.

Sakura looked at his hand as she answered. "I can't. But I can maybe meet you before you go?" she said.

Naruto nodded.

"Sounds like a plan" he said. "I have to leave at 8PM" he said.

"I will be done by 5" she said smiling.

"We can eat tempura if you want" he offered, and she laughed.

"Alright you can't take it back" she said threatening and he nodded with a smile in response.

Sakura rested her head on her knee and looked at Naruto's blue eyes, her stare gradually went to what was at the back of Naruto; a big brown clock.

"Oh shit" she said, and Naruto arched an eyebrow. "It's 10PM.I better go" she said sadly.

She smiled at him and slowly got up from the chair, she gave a small squeeze to Naruto's hand before letting it go. She started gathering the things she had brought and put them in her medic bag.

"Stay" Sakura stopped in her tracks when she heard Naruto speak. She slowly turned on her heels to look at Naruto.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Stay" Naruto repeated from the same spot he was sitting, his eyes looking firm.

"Naruto… I can´t" she said. "What would people think?" she asked. "It's already bad that Ayame saw that I was in your room. Not adding that your personal ANBUs know and with that the whole alliance could know"

"Okay, one… my personal ANBUs have sworn secrecy and can't reveal any information. Maybe you should come and learn a thing or two about ANBUs tomorrow" he said, and Sakura chuckled. "And two, I don't really care" he admitted.

"Naruto…"

"What?" he genuinely asked, and Sakura smiled at him.

"I don't have a change of clothes here" she said.

"You said your apartment is close to the hospital, you can shower here and pick them up there" he said.

Sakura thought for a second and nodded.

"Alright" she said, and Naruto grabbed the bag from her shoulder and set it down.

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"Suna doesn't have many movies" he said as he looked again at the Television guide once again.

"Yeah, I know" Sakura said from the bathroom. "I gave up searching for something to watch at day 2 of being here" she finished as she stepped out of the bathroom.

Sakura dried her hair with a towel as she walked towards the bed that Naruto was laying on, Naruto had borrowed her a pair of shorts and a white shirt which was too big for her figure.

"I am a little bit tired anyway, I think I'll just go to sleep" she said while laying on the bed at a safe distance.

"Yes, I think I can't sleep yet because I feel the jet lag" he confessed, and Sakura laughed.

"Awh" she said. "You can keep the TV on, I can sleep with noise, it doesn't bother me"

Naruto nodded understanding.

Sakura laid down on the right of Naruto facing him, Naruto pulled her closer to him and she complied by putting her head on his shoulder. None of them knew why they were laying like this. They had slept together before, in missions, in separate tents. And they had done it in an intimate way when Sasuke had just died, but it was entirely platonic. This time, it was different, they felt it but tried denying it. Naruto tried by switching channels with the remote. Sakura by pretending to be asleep.

After a few minutes Naruto turned off the TV, the heat coming from Sakura's body too close to him was an enough distractor.

"Sakura" he called her in the hopes of her being asleep.

"Yes?" Sakura responded in a fully awake voice, slowly looking up at him.

Naruto cursed the moment he called her name, because the minute she met his eyes, he had only one thought in his mind; her lips. It seemed like Sakura had a similar thought as she slowly lifts her head and gradually got closer to his face. Naruto's left hand copped her chin and slowly lift her face. Their faces were now a few centimeters away, their personal space had already been mutually trespassed.

"Naruto" she whispered. "I… I don´t think this is a good idea" she said.

"I know" he whispered back as he tilted his head for their lips to meet. His heart beating faster and faster as her eyes started to close acknowledging what was about to happen and giving unspoken permission to Naruto to kiss her.

He bent back her head across his arm and kissed her, softly at first and slowly. It was a peck at first, which after making first contact they separated slightly to look into each other's eyes. Jade meeting light blue, both desiring the other, both acknowledging each other's desire. Their lips met again more decisively this time, Naruto's head this time was laying entirely on the pillow, while Sakura's face was coping over him this time. She tilted her head to the right to deepen the kiss, with a swift gradation of intensity that made her cling to him as the only solid thing in a dizzy swaying moment. He parted her lips after a few seconds of consistent kissing and she accepted the proposal his lips were making, his tongue made entrance to her mouth and she responded with the same pace, he was evoking from her sensations she had forgotten she was capable of feeling.

Before she could withdraw her mind from the consciousness that was trying to tell her that they should stop, his arms were around her. He helped her up entirely, and she positioned herself fully over him, her legs fully straddling him. His arms dropped from her back to trace her legs. Sakura's hands decided to trace his jawline and later stay in his hair. She loved his hair.

She broke the kiss to breath.

She looked down at him, her hands were now around his neck, his hands holding her waist.

"Naruto" she said breathing heavily. "I don't think this is a good idea"

"I know" he answered with a husky voice.

"I don't want us to regret this" she said.

"Sakura" Naruto said closing his eyes.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Then stop grinding on me" he hissed. And Sakura noticed how her hips were grinding on Naruto slowly.

"Oh sorry" she apologized in a breath and before she could get off him his hands pulled her back and kept her hips in the same place. "N-Naruto"

He grabbed her shirt by a first and pulled her down into a hot and wet kiss that she didn't take long to return. Their heartbeats' pace increased as their lips met, his hands found their way to Sakura's hips and pressed them against his, she grinded on him in response.

Naruto's hands went up and under the shirt, he noticed immediately how she only had the shirt on as he touched her firm breasts. He copped them slowly waiting for her to object, the objection never came. More decisively he grabbed them each in one hand and squeezed, she moaned in response and grinded harder against his now obvious hard member.

She broke the kiss to pull herself up enough for her to take his shirt off, Naruto complied. She took a moment to look at him, how many times she had seen his bare chest… and yet right then it made her cheeks blush. It was well formed, his abs were outstanding, she traced his scars and caressed his seal. To him her touch was delicious and agonizing. She slowly brought her head back to kiss his neck, she did it decisively and excruciatingly. Sakura noticed that his neck was his weak spot. His hands were on the other hand finding their way under her shorts.

He managed to take them off swiftly. He grabbed her hips, now only being covered by a light pink and tiny panty and pushed her harder on his member.

"Shit" Sakura panted breaking from his neck she gave him a peck on the lips before getting up and give him enough space for her to get rid of his pants. She noticed his member under his boxers ready to be unleashed.

She touched his member over his boxers, and he hissed in response, the reaction gave her the motivation she needed. She grabbed it with more decisiveness, and she started stroking it.

"Fuck Sakura" he said while pushing his head back into the pillow. After a few seconds Naruto pulled her towards him, not wanting to finish like this. He put his back towards the wall and sat Sakura on his lap. Their chests close together and her face slightly higher than his. He ripped her panties off her and before she had a chance to complain, his fingers made his way inside of her.

First caressing outside and after feeling her wet enough, he slowly slid his middle finger inside of her. Her reaction was pure bliss for him, she arched her back and threw her head back. He paid attention to her reactions to see what she liked, he learned her and had her panting after a few seconds. She laid her forehead on his and their eyes met, she pulled him into a wet and hungry kiss that he responded with the same intensity as he kept diligently going in and out of her with his finger, and she moaned into his mouth.

He stopped for a milli second when he felt her pull his member out of his boxers and bring her close to her entrance, he took his finger out and stopped kissing her to look at her. She looked beautiful, sweaty, excited, flushed. They didn't give verbal consent, but they didn't break eye contact as she placed his penis into her entrance and slowly pulled herself down on him. Her mouth parted feeling his thick and pulsing member inside of her and his mouth hissed as he felt her entirely on him.

He hugged her strongly, getting used to her wetness around his member, he felt not present and yet very present. His body was there but his mind didn't believe it. Meanwhile Sakura felt full, her cheeks were red, her forehead sweaty and yet she felt incredibly vitalized the moment she had Naruto inside of her.

"I'm sorry" she said suddenly in a whisper. He broke the hug and kissed her.

And then she started riding him. He felt himself growing big and hard inside her as she skillfully rode him. He couldn't bare the shirt she was wearing anymore, and he tore it apart in a quick and swift move, there was no complaint coming from her because as soon as he disappeared such garment his mouth found her right breast. She moaned, gloriously for his ears and she kept her riding him. Naruto put his hands on her ass and accelerated the pace by guiding her ass up and down. They fucked, and they loved every single aspect of it, she loved his dick inside of her, he loved her body straddling him.

At one point he felt a few tears reach his cheeks. She was crying. He didn't stop, because he knew what she was feeling. He was feeling the same. This intimate moment was also the realization of their first-time having sex after their loved ones' passing. None of them had taken another lover. In a way it was a sort of closure. He stopped her slowly and made her lay her back entirely on the bed by pushing her gently. Without getting out of her he laid on top of Sakura and he felt himself deeper inside of her. She pushed her hips up to deepen the act and he groaned. He rested his head on her forehead meeting her eyes and her eyes burned his more and more with each push his hips made into her. She was close to reaching her peak, her breaths became short and slowly her head bent backwards and he fucked her harder and deeper making sure she would come. And she did.

"Naruto, fuck" she said in a broken voice that he wanted to remember for eternity.

The blond kept pounding her harder with his hips as his hands laid on her breasts and squeezed them. It was not hard for him to come, the picture perfect he was thrusting underneath was a great motivation. He reached his peak and unleashed inside of her she hugged his hips with her legs welcoming his release.

He fell on her but was careful not to crash her, both trying to recover their breath. She caressed his hair.

Slowly he got off from her to look at her in the eye.

"Sakura, I…" but he was stopped when one slender finger placed itself on his lips.

"Don't. We don't have to say anything" she said, her jade eyes sincere. "I don't want to lose you"

Naruto nodded. "I don't want to lose you either" he admitted.

Both slowly got up from the bed to get cleaned up. Sakura glanced and sighed at the clock. 2AM. She only had a few hours before she had to go to work. Before she walked to the bathroom, Naruto stopped her by grabbing her wrist. She turned and stopped as she felt his lips on her forehead. She was surprised and slowly hugged him, not caring that they both were naked.

After the hug she proceeded to walk to the bathroom and grabbed another shirt from Naruto's luggage intending to borrow it. Naruto got cleaned up after her and intending to maybe try again to have a conversation about the event, he pushed forward towards the bed to meet Sakura. He met a very beautiful, but very sleepy woman on the bed. He sighed and decided to have a conversation the next day when they both had woken up, with that thought in mind his eyes suddenly gave away and without noticing when he had fallen asleep.

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First of all, I apologize for the tardiness. I didn't have the correct inspiration, but now I am finally content with this ep!

I changed the category from T to M.

Please write me a Review! It is my best motivation!

Guys… what do you think? I thought for a long time whether to add lemon in the story… but then I did. Don't be preoccupied for their progress. Don't worry, it won't make a huge jump into their relationship, it will all make sense and won't feel rushed. Bear with me!

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


	7. Chapter 7: The Big Event

Sorry for the horrible delay! Life got incredibly busy and had to work 60 hours a week for months which i was not used to so a lot of getting used to it. I love you all, hope you enjoy. I am almost done with the next one. 3 to finish that's what I am thinking. (Hopefully it works that way!)

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 **Love Can Be Different**

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 7: The Big Event

A knock on the door woke him, it wasn't the heavy sunlight coming through the window, the window he had forgotten to cover with the curtains just the night before. The light hit his eyes once he opened them as if he had opened them into a completely white room. Which in a way it was true, Naruto was sure that Suna's sun was brighter than the one in Konoha, even though it was probably not possible, he blamed the sand that reflected everywhere creating the shining way stronger. A second knock reminded him of the first one.

"Y-yeah" he said in a sleepy voice.

"Hokage-sama. We must leave in an hour at most." A voice from the other side reminded him.

"Fine, thank you" he said and heard the voice leave the other side of the door.

He slowly scratched his eyes and in five seconds he got fast flashbacks from the previous night. He immediately turned to his right, an empty space on the bed. He could still smell the perfume Sakura had on her. He laid his hand on the side where she had slept on.

She had to go work early at the new hospital, he reminded himself. He wished he had a conversation with her before she had left, or that she had woken him up, but convinced himself that it was probably better to talk when they met later than a rushed morning conversation. After all, he always took more than just a few minutes to fully wake up from a night sleep.

He decided to follow his morning routine and got his things ready to be picked up after the event to make it easier to get to the train without delays. He took a shower and left to meet part of his alliance.

"Good morning" he said as he entered the dinning room inside the Hotel where he was staying. His ANBU alliance had come from their accommodation to have breakfast before leaving together towards the stadium to the event. The room was incredibly big and it was on the lowest floor of the Hotel, it had various long tables and he found himself being guided by his ANBUs to the place where he should be sitting, he sat in front of his personal ANBUs they all had ditched the mask.

"Where is Kakashi-sensei?" he asked as he started eating.

"The Rokudaime had breakfast early and decided to leave early to organize some of the troops" the ANBU sitting in front of him.

"I see" he answered. "Do we have enough time?" he asked as he saw some of the taichos taking ANBUs squads away gradually until soon he and his personal ANBU weren the only group left.

"Yes, we will be escorted by the Kazekage special ANBU unit and they're scheduled to arrive in thirty minutes" a brown haired ANBU to his right said. Naruto nodded understanding.

The morning went as scheduled, they were soon picked up from the hotel by Gaara's special unit and they arrived within 15 minutes to the stadium.

The stadium was incredibly big in Naruto's opinion, it was probably slightly bigger than the one in Konoha. They entered through a special door, into a separate room under the right section of the stadium's terraces. Despite being isolated from the stadium itself by strong material, the noise coming from the terraces could be clearly felt through vibration.

Konoha's ANBUs were already standing in formation and separated in the 4 main sectors: Special Units Root, Counter-terrorism and fast reaction, Spy and Recognition, Assesination and Sabotage. On the other side of the huge room there were well positioned the Suna ANBU alliance. As soon as Naruto entered the room they all made a swift military movement to stand to face him, and formed a quick formation. The same they would make as a sign of respect for every Kage. Naruto acknowledged them and allowed them with a command to rest. He marched to the front of the lines and met Kakashi who was speaking with some of other Taichos who still hadn't set their masks on.

"Yo" Kakashi stopped his conversation to acknowledge his former student.

"Kakashi-sensei" he said and quickly the ANBU who was speaking with Kakashi respectfully excused himself. "Are you ready?"

"Always" Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Where is Gaara?" he asked him, Kakashi looked around.

"He was here just a minute ago, he has to come here within 10 mintues because it is already starting" he said as he looked at the clock on the wall.

"Arlight" Naruto said.

Soon enough, there was an announcement through the speakers on the sides. Soon all ANBUs put their masks on and the Suna Alliance started to walk towards the entrance. Naruto started to walk to the back, after all, his entrance was the last one.

The announcer started by giving an explanation and the historical meaning of the Suna and Konoha ANBU Alliance. And with an introduction, the announcer gave entrance to the ANBU Suna Alliance, the cheer was clear from the crowd. The stadium was full and they all expected an spectacle, after all, the ANBU were known to be elite shinobis. The different sections of the Suna alliance made an entrance, Naruto observed it all from the screen that was in the room. He observed how powerful the Suna alliance was, some of their Kekkei Genkai was like nothing he had seen before, some he had heard of but never seen. He enjoyed the presentation and spectacle of every single sector, and then it was time for his Alliance. He was proud of the presentation they'd make; he had overseen it already in Konoha but was excited to see it again in foreign land.

The presentation started with the Spy and Recognition unit; it was made of people with special Kekkei Genkai that included disappearing, shadow control, and high control of tracking and location's specialty, like that of the Inuzuka, Hyuga and Aburame clan. It was swift and showing, and despite not exactly showing how they would use their abilities in a real life mission the public was enchanted. The second section from Konohagakure was Assasination and Sabotage, the hastiest unit and smoothest, they were known for their speed and their ability to kill without a big show, nonetheless they had to make a show for the public so what their presentation entailed was a fake encounter of half of the section against the other to showcase their abilities. The movements were choreographed and impressive earning many applauses and "wow" from the public.

The third section was the Special Units Root, ANBU had adopted the Root members formerly under Danzo. They were known for having special one of a kind ability, this part of the spectacle earned a bigger reaction than the previous, but it was understandable since probably all of what was shown were probably seen for the first time; blue flame release, grass release, energy release, glass release, frost release, dark release, wood release, among others. The last part of the Konoha ANBU form was the Counter-terrorism and fast reaction show, it was the last one because it was thought to be the one that would cause the most damage to the stadium ground. Since it was the fast reaction sector, their abilities were incredibly showy it kept the audience holding themselves to their seat afraid that the stadium would break at any moment due to the power of the jutsus shown. It was all under control though, the special Kekkei Genkai of one of the Root ANBU's was keeping everything in place by making a near invisible cover around the stadium and specially on the stadium ground. Swiftly after their show they scattered and Kakashi closed with his purple lightning forming a dragon at the end as all the ANBUs disappear instantly leaving him alone in the middle of the stadium earning a standing ovation.

"Show off" Naruto said while chuckling.

"It's my turn now" Gaara announced. Naruto quickly turned around surprised that he hadn't noticed when Gaara had come into the room.

"Good luck" Naruto said and Gaara gave his friend a small smile.

"I'll introduce you" he said and Naruto nodded.

The ovation Kakashi got was nothing in comparison to what Gaara got as he entered the stadium arena. He did it slowly, sand slowly covered the stadium and the public knew what was coming, they all knew the classic Gaara's jutsu. Naruto noticed how they all loved their Kazekage, his heart warmed remembering how he—like him—was shunned in his village and now had all the love and support of his people. Sand swirled until the sand made a human form and Gaara emerged in the middle of the stadium. The public clapped standing up for full 10 minutes.

"Fellow citizens" he spoke and they all became silent and attentive. "We are gathered here today to commemorate the anniversary of the Suna-Konoha ANBU Alliance." He said loudly through a microphone he had previously installed on his outfit. "And now I would like to welcome someone who is not only the leader of our allied Village Konoha but is also my best friend and the first friend I ever made. I met him in the Chunnin exams when I was 12 and have been close ever since. I am happy to say that this friendship has translated in better relationship between our nations and now is a day to commemorate a part of it. Without further ado, I present to you my friend, the 7th Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto" he finished, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

Naruto made his entrance.

"Kurama, I hope you're ready" he said lowly as the doors opened towards the stadium soil and Kurama grunted in response.

Naruto merged with Kurama, his body became completely yellow with strong flare. The nine-tails chakra flowing through his body and outwards, he decided to improvise. He ran with nine-tails speed until there was a orange-yellow ring everywhere in the ground of the stadium. Nobody could see him, only the rings formed with the speed in which he ran, he could hear voices of amusement and surprise everywhere in the spectators stands. And then the end of the spectacle took place, "Kurama" he said to the Kyuubi within himself, " _I know boy_ " the fox responded and in one quick movement Naruto and Kurama formed a massive head of a fox, it was taller than the stadium itself and the shine coming from it almost blinded the audience and after a few seconds it disappeared to only leave Naruto standing in the middle of the stadium ground. It took a few seconds before they started clapping first slowly and then the whole audience caught up and started standing admiring the spectacle the Hokage had just provided. Naruto smiled and waved.

" _We could have planned something better_ " Kurama said to him and Naruto laughed.

"They liked it" he said and Kurama gave him a sarcastic grunt.

After the spectacle, Gaara joined Naruto in the ground and jointly commemorated outstanding ANBUs and Taichos. After the event Naruto took pictures with both alliances, it was a quick affair once the show was done but not by any means any more meaningful.

The lunch had been given by the Kazekage and it was a more lively affair than the breakfast, since both alliances interacted, there was a traditional dancing show from Suna ethnicities, and it was the time everyone could relax and be less formal, it was also during this time when ANBUs could approach the Kages and speak more freely, they'd also hand gifts to them if they pleased. Both Naruto and Gaara were lucky to be loved so much and both got various gifts, as he was receiving one from a young Taicho from Suna, Naruto saw how a young and beautiful brown haired ANBU looked at Gaara with a gift in her hand, the blond rejoiced and laughed internally at this young woman's struggle to hand the gift to Gaara, who was busy talking to other ANBU who had approached him. Naruto stood up after thanking that one Taicho and in one swift movement managed to travel behind that woman. Naruto wasn't surprised when not even a second passed and she felt his presence turning around immediately.

"Hokage-sama!" she exclaimed.

"Give it to him, it's now or never" Naruto said smiling. The girl blushed and in one swift movement Naruto left the room. Not before seeing how the young girl approached Gaara, who by the looks felt a sort of way about her too. Gaara smiled and thanked her, but interestingly they stayed in contact for far longer than the time he gave to any of the other ANBUs.

Naruto smiled once he was outside of the room. When had he become this matchmaker? He noticed how seeing those two together inevitably reminded him of Sakura. Couples remind of loved ones, that's how it happens. "Couple?" Naruto thought, he blushed at the idea and tried to get it out of his mind. This was all so new and yet it did not feel strange as he would have guessed.

"Kuye" he said. And almost immediately an ANBU who was in the room appeared, no mask on and a drink in his hand.

"Hokage-sama"

Naruto thought for a second.

"Nevermind" he said. "Go back to the party"

"I will send someone to check on Sakura-sama" Kuye said. Naruto tried not to blush and not look surprised, however Kuye ghosted a smile. And before Naruto asked how he knew what he wanted, one of his closest ANBU disappeared.

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"Hokage-sama" he heard a knock on the door.

"Open" Naruto said as he got the last of his suitcases together.

It was Kuye, the gray haired entered the room and made a reverence before closing the door and delivering the news.

"Sakura-sama is unfortunately in a 6 hour long surgery"Kuye said looking at Naruto, the Hokage only nodded.

"Thank you" he said. Kuye nodded and opened the door signaling to other aids to pick up the Hokage's personal luggage.

His mind starting thinking that maybe Sakura was faking the surgery and she actually did not want to face him. Which in the end he understood, and his mind went to the last and worst scenario; maybe she will stop talking to him. Naruto froze for a second as he was walking to the exit of the hotel. He forced himself to keep walking and thought he'd rather go back to the way things were before anything happened. He would rather stay friends than be nothing at all.

He absently waved goodbye to some of the top ANBU from the Sand village, his mind was filled with uncertainty. He stopped on his tracks for a second making some of his personal guards to do the same. He needed to see her.

"Naruto!" he heard someone say his name and he immediately recognized the voice. Sakura came running down the street her medical coat in hand and slightly out of breath.

"Sakura" he said as she finally caught up to him. She stopped and placed her hands on top of her knees. Kuye made a signal for the rest of his personal guard to scattered and they did so immediately.

"I'm sorry… there was…. There was a surgery" she started saying trying to catch her breath. "I was asked to do…since it involved poison organs" she said once she recovered herself. "I am so glad that I caught you" she said sighing while placing a hand on her chest. Naruto smiled, his heart all of a sudden feeling less heavy. He put an arm around her to embrace her, something that caught Sakura off guard.

"I'm glad I get to see you before I go" he said. She returned the embrace avidly as if she had waited a lifetime to hug him.

"Any chance the train leaves later?" she asked hopeful as she separated from his embrace but kept their hands intertwined not completely separating.

"I'm afraid not" he said sadly.

"Hokage-sama" they both heard the voice and Sakura let go of his arms quickly. "I apologize but the train is leaving in 10 minutes" the ANBU said before excusing himself and leaving them alone.

Sakura looked up at him and found that he was already looking at her, she blushed in reaction.

"I wanted to talk to you" Sakura said.

"Me too" he sighed, and Sakura looked down.

"Naruto, since we don't have time…" she started saying and swallowed hard before meeting his eyes again with firm determination. "I just want to let you know; _you_ are my priority" she said. "Whatever this means... or what yesterday meant, I just want you to know that you are my priority and whatever the outcome I want to have you in my life in any shape or form. Even if it means having everything or nothing" she said hoping her sentence made sense.

Naruto smiled and in an instinctive movement coped her face and brought his face down to place a kiss on her lips. He separated his face enough to look at her and smile at her red cheeks. Sakura grabbed him gently by the collar and brought him down to a second kiss which was neither hungry nor slow, it was perfectly what they needed a slow pace kiss that showed how much they meant for each other.

"See you in Konoha?" he asked when separating and placing his hands around her waist, suddenly finding themselves extremely close. Closeness that wouldn't allow them to lie to anyone that walked by and saw them in such position.

"Yes" she said. "Now hurry, or they'll leave you behind" she said smiling as she stood on her toes to kiss him one last time. He nodded and looked at her as if trying to remember her before he reluctantly walked towards the entrance of the station. He was not excited to leave Suna as he usually was after a diplomatic visit.

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Naruto had barely time to grab a handle to stabilize himself before the train started its movement. He managed to balance himself until he felt stable and started walking to his cabin, ANBUs following him, two behind him and two to each side. He entered and ANBUs allowed him to enter staying behind the closing door. Naruto didn't need to turn around to know someone was in his cabin.

"Yo" Kakashi greeted.

Naruto turned and nodded.

"You arrived a little late" he said and Naruto nodded in response.

"Yeah, I got distracted" the blond answered as he started to sit down. "Tired?"

"Yeah, I gave a whole show" Kakashi said and Naruto nodded.

"I saw" Naruto said laughing.

"Why are you laughing? It was great" Kakashi said offended.

"I'm not saying it wasn't!" Naruto defended himself. "Just saying that it tired you, old man, your age is showing"

Kakashi threw him the most murderous look before answering.

"You know, at least I planned mine. You only improvised" he said.

"What?" Naruto asked offended. Then after a few seconds asked, "How did you know?"

"It was all over the place" Kakashi said now it was his turn to laugh. And Naruto got offended.

"It wasn't. Besides I got the loudest cheer" he said and Kakashi denied with his head. In these instances, he could see traces of kid Naruto.

Kakashi handed him a bottle of water from the small minibar that was in the Hokage's train cabin. Naruto accepted it acknowledging his dehydration, Suna was warmer than Konoha by 10,000 degrees in Naruto's estimation.

"You are late" Kakashi said before pulling his mask down low enough to be able to drink but not too low to reveal any of his face.

"I made it anyway"

"Hm" Kakashi acknowledged. "Why were you late?" Kakashi asked casually causing Naruto to choke on his drink.

Naruto composed himself and looked at Kakashi for a second, the eldest had a knowing look that Naruto could recognize after years of knowing him.

"I lost track of time" he answered, and the sensei nodded in response not looking away.

"I see"

Naruto sighed and decided to change the subject by providing some snacks courtesy of the Hokage cabin in the train. He opened a drawer on the side of the mini fridge and took out some small bags of chips, and threw one of the bags to Kakashi, who swiftly caught them.

"Nice" he said before opening the bag of chips.

"Did you have a nice stay?" the blond asked as he opened his own.

"Yeah, a bit tired with all the things I had to oversee, but overall it was good. It was a short trip though; I was thinking of getting a few things from the market but only had enough time to fetch Tsunade's package and that's it"

"Yeah not a lot of free time to tour around"

Kakashi denied with his head. "Agreed, did not even have time to see my favorite student" he said and Naruto froze for a millisecond.

After debating himself for what he thought was the longest time, he decided to stop acting dumb. "What do you want to hear ?" Naruto asked.

The cabin was entirely silent for half a minute before Kakashi smiled and answered.

"I am happy for you" he said.

Naruto was taken aback by this and for a second didn't know what to answer.

"How did you know?" he managed to think of a question.

"I bumped into Sakura early this morning, she was coming from your room and… it was just obvious" he said.

Naruto sighed and a small smile formed in his face. Weirdly having Kakashi know of it made him feel like it was approved by someone really important in both their lives. What was approved? Neither he nor probably Sakura knew.

"So… you did see her" Naruto finished catching late on one of his sensei's lies.

Kakashi laughed "Best thing I could think of for bringing up the subject"

Naruto rolled his eyes as he relaxed in his seat. Kakashi started reading and noticed how his student fell asleep rapidly, one thing made him stop in his usual reading speed, he noticed how his student's face was so calm and a smile formed in his lips. Kakashi's heart felt warm, after seeing Naruto suffering for many days after Hinata's passing, he could finally see a genuine smile forming on the blond.

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I am genuinely sorry about this update, how late it came. Life got crazy and I didn't have a chance to write. I know I may have lost some constant readers, but I made the commitment to myself to finish this, so I will. (It may not be super fast though).

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22


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